My Little Pony: The Magic of Two - Beginning
by 3CentsBragade
Summary: One afternoon when young Twilight Sparkle was nearly killed by the collapsing of a cliff, a colt by the name of Clear Fire who bares similarities to the infamous criminal; Phoenix Burst, saved her life. Since then they have been the best of friends. The closer they get to understanding each other the more they learn the true meaning of friendship, and vice versa. Begins before G4.
1. Part 1: First Encounter

"Hello, everyone! I'm Battle of the 3Centbragade! I remember it so you don't have to. I'm not going to show what this is above here before starting my announcement because it kinda just spoils the surprise for all of us. So anyway, I'm starting another new story. I'm still going to continue the other stories, but I want to take a break so I can bring out this. As you can read, the title is called "The Magic of Two - Beginning". This is going to be the start of the new series I'm working on, and I'm planning to make it at least ten or so chapters long. So without further ado; Let's get on with the STORY!" Battle announced, using a script for once. "Oh yes. Also David, Tim, Diana, Dennis, and pretty much all of the other people that's usually with me in the studio are still messing around in My Little Cupid and Zei: Adventures in Equestria, so they won't be here. I'm so lonely... Since the new chapter of that isn't finished yet I'm not going to spoil what they're doing there, but so help me if they find my stash of- I'm not hiding anything from them. Well again, without further ado; Let's get on with the STORY!"

I need to stop doing these announcements. They're getting suckier every time I do them. Either it's just because I'm not funny by myself, or they just suck in general. Tell me what you think in reviews or private message's.

Disclaimers: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or most of the characters in this story. They belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do own this story, though.

Also; OC's will not be accepted in this series.

* * *

**_My Little Pony: The Magic of Two - Beginning Part 1: The First Encounter  
_**

* * *

_(Six years ago)_

_"Help us! HELP!" A mare screamed from inside a burning house._

_It was early at night outside of the city of Canterlot when the sun had set only a mere 30 minutes ago. The moon shone brightly in the starry sky, along with the smoke that was coming from a house that was burning to the ground. A stallion, a mare, and a new born foal that had came into the world three days earlier than expected, were stuck in the living room of their own home, shouting for someone to rescue them._

_"Somebody help us! We're stuck in here, and we have a new born child! Please, get us out of here!" The mare shouted once more._

_The father of the new born did his best to fight the flames with his own. The father was a Pegasus/Phoenix Hybrid with the rare ability to control fire with his body at will. He had thick orange fur covering his body. His mane and tail were orange, red, and yellow that had was to appeared to to be on fire. hazel eyes. Talons for his fore hooves instead of actual horse hooves. Last but not least; sharp orange Griffon feathers with blue tips._

_The mother was a hot pink Unicorn Mare. She has teal__ eyes.__ A dark shade of yellow for her mane with sky blue curls over her ears. Her tail, like her mane, was dark yellow and only yellow with a teal ribbon __tied to it. Lastly she__ wore two Platinum bracelets on her left fore leg._

_The baby was a red Unicorn like it's father, but it could be mistaken for crimson. It had chestnut brown and orange spiky hair and matching tail. It also had talons instead of hooves like it's father._

_"Damn it! These flames are spreading too much! And my powers are growing thin! I can't hold it!" The father cried, letting go of his fire magic for a short break. "Where are The Canterlot Guards!? They shouldn't be taking this long to get here!"_

_"We can't just stay here, dear! We're all going to die if we don't do something!" The mother replied, protecting her baby from the flames that grew closer to them._

_Most of the ponies from around the city came to help stop the fire with large buckets of water, fire extinguisher's, and just plain beating it with wooden boards. Princess Celestia, the Ruler of Equestria, and her Royal Guards rushed over to the location of the crisis with haste after seeing the fire from the castle throne room. The house was just moments from collapsing, and Celestia ran her fastest to save them. She hadn't run this fast or had been this worried about her ponies in a while because they were rarely in any real danger, or, at the very least, been in any danger that required her presence._

_"Come on...! Come on...! We have to hurry, everyone!" She told the Guards, rapidly losing her breath._

_"Yes, your majesty!"_

_They could see the house from a distance. Celestia hoped to all of Equestria that those ponies hadn't given up yet._

_The three ponies lived up on a cliff near the edge of town. They had moved there to be able to view the sunset at a closer spot, which meant being a bit far from town. The path that lead to the house was through a small forest. The whole area was on the west side of Canterlot and it wasn't that hard to reach._

_Back with the burning house._

_Upstairs in another room; the ceiling from there had collapsed. With that room close to impossible to enter now, and with the living room the family was in being underneath, it was also starting to give out on them. The walls from around the upper levels of the house started creaking, and some of the mirrors broke. In the living room two of the bookshelves fell, one on a scarlet colored sofa, the other on a coffee table near the three ponies._

_The baby cried loudly in the hooves of it's mother. She looked at her baby, seeing it sob. She couldn't help but also cry because of their situation. The father went back to fighting with his fire once again, this time not doing as well as when he started._

_"AHHH!" The mother screamed frightfully as a glass shard flew past them, missing whoever it was trying to impale._

_"Glimmering Star, don't cry, dear. We're going to be okay." The father assured his wife, comforting her by wrapping a fore leg around her neck while the other one continued to fight the opposing flames._

_"I know... But I can't stand to see our new born son get hurt." Glimmering replied, hugging their son tightly. "He came out just recently. We can't lose him like this."_

_The house began to creak some more, and more of their stuff started falling to the floor practically shattering. The father had inconveniently wasted all of his strength from the powerful flames. He didn't know what else to do but hold his wife with one of his wings._

_"My flames... I can't hold it off anymore." He looked at his talons, seeing how sore and tired they were. "I have never been able to run out of flames before. Just what kind of fire is this if even I can't fight it or absorb it?"_

_Glimmering Star took a step closer to lean on him. It was clear that she was frightened for him and their child. This was definitely a day they wished they could start again from the moment they woke up._

_"Honey, do you think... We're not going to make it?" She asked._

_"I'm not too certain, but if we are going to die... Then we'll die together in each others embrace. Together... With our son." The father looked at his little colt, smiling at the bundle of joy they gave birth to. "... Phoenix Burst... Our own little colt."_

_"I know, Flame Edge. I still can't believe it really happened. Our own son, born three days early. I almost couldn't believe how happy our friends were to see him at the hospital that morning, them and their son. I really wish we could have been able to see their new daughter, too." Glimmering Star replied, nuzzling Phoenix Burst._

_"You know, Glimmer. Since we were young I thought about how it would be like with a child. During his or hers first few years of their life it was going to be rather difficult and tiring. But also fun at the same time. The next few years would have been easier depending on what our child was going to grow into. Kind, compassionate, strong willed, maybe a little there could have been a second child." Flame spoke as if any second they were going to die, which didn't seem unlikely._

_"We would have moved somewhere bigger, livelier. Somewhere with a field as far as the eyes can see. There would have been so much room for the kids to play and run around. We would closer to Ponyville again." Glimmering continuing for Flame._

_"The town where we met." They finished simultaneously._

_Glimmering Star and Flame Edge cuddled together to carefully keep their son between them so nothing would fall on him. If there was anything else they could do if not fighting the flames, they could protect their child for their final moments. Phoenix Burst's eyes opened just barely to see his mother and father. His crying slowly died down, and he put a claw in his mouth. It was now very clear that his eye color was teal just like his mother._

_All of the residents of Canterlot on the outside continued fighting the fire while at this very moment Celestia and the Royal Guards had finally arrived. The parents didn't have any time to reply to the Princess' pleading yell for a response, because the house had fallen._

_Their final words before the whole house collapsed on them were..._

_"I love you, Flamy."_

_"I love you, too, Glimmer."_

_Princess Celestia looked at the destroyed home in shear horror. She didn't make it in time to save them from the fire. She knelt and lowered her head in shame. She wasn't the only one in despair from the loss. Most of the ponies that fought for them had either began crying, or hugged another while staring blankly in a certain direction.  
_

_To make matters worse; the hill around the house was starting to collapse, too._

_It might have been from the recent tragic event and it being an old hill being unable to hold everything in place for very long._

_"Oh no!" A stallion yelled._

_"Everyone, get away from there! It is too dangerous to be near this area!" Princess Celestia had ordered to her ponies, backing away enough to not fall with the house._

_Everyone ran away to safe spots near the Guards, while Celestia went down to rescue any of the three ponies that might have been alive, if there were any._

_"Princess, wait!" The Guards yelled, going after their ruler._

_"Do not come after me! I will handle this myself!" Was her only response._

_Celestia dug her way through into the house. She looked everywhere for any survivors. Going to the left of the main hallway to start her search by checking the kitchen and dining room; she didn't find anyone._

_"Where could they be?" She asked herself, exiting the dining room and__ desperately__ looking in every direction of another hallway._

_Suddenly through the crackling of dying flames; she heard the faintest of cries from a foal towards the living room. Celestia dug her way through the broken floorboards and glass to find the source of the crying, finding two dead ponies on the floor crushed by large beams that fell on them from the ceiling while their baby was laying under them, seemingly unharmed._

_"They managed to save their child..." Celestia spoke in a whisper before rushing towards the child. "Hold on! I'm coming!"_

_They were seconds away from hitting the bottom of the mountain Canterlot stood on. Celestia carefully lifted the parents off the baby, and took him into her hooves, then used magic from her horn to transport them to safety in front of the Royal Guards and the citizens of Canterlot._

_Everyone was surprised and happy to see Celestia return safe and sound, but they became more frightened to see that she was being very quiet and mysterious. Princess Celestia had her head down, appearing to be looking at who was in her possession.  
_

_"Princess...?"_

_"The parents of this child... They... Didn't make it. Only their son." Celestia held up the colt for everyone to see. "He was the only survivor I found. I don't know how exactly he survived, only that the parents had sheltered him with their bodies from what I saw. I will see to it that he is put into an orphanage by tomorrow morning. I will be taking care of him back at the castle __for the night __until further notice. Guards; I want you all to investigate Canterlot and all of it's inhabitants. I will be waiting for a report on whoever could have caused this crisis to occur within two weeks."_

_"Yes, your highness!"_

_Princess Celestia was the first to head back to Canterlot for the night, carrying Phoenix Burst in one hoof as she flew. The Royal Guards escorted the other ponies back to their homes in groups so they could be asked questions on the recent event._

_"I heard in the news that his name was Phoenix Burst. Born from the former professional flyer Flame Edge. For him and his wife that shall be his name. Phoenix Burst... I'm so sorry." She said to the infant as she gently rubbed his mane._

_Meanwhile in a hospital back in Canterlot, during the same night, a gray furred Unicorn mare was screaming in pain. She was going in labor, and her husband, a dark blue Unicorn, along with three nurse's, were helping her calm down while they went to a room so she could have her baby.  
_

_This was going to be their second child, since they had a son born three years earlier. Their son waited at one of his friends' house. Earlier that day when his parents told him that his brother or sister could have been coming very soon made him excited beyond their expectations._

_"Just breath. We're almost there." One of the nurse' told the mother._

_"Open room 24! We have a mare going in labor!" A doctor yelled to another stallion that was standing next to the mentioned room._

_The mother screamed even louder. The father rubbed her right cheek with his left cheek, and told her to stay strong._

_"Night Light... I can feel her rubbing against my belly...!" The mother told her husband as she breathed hard from the pain._

_Night Light responded with another rub of his cheek. They had finally arrived in room 24, and the doctors got to work delivering the baby._

_Several hours later, it was near morning by the time the baby was born. When it came out, it was confirmed to be a female. After taking care of the new born for about five or six minutes, the doctors and nurse' gave the parents their daughter._

_Night Light gasped lightly. "Here she is...!" He said, as tears of joy streamed down his cheeks from his eyes._

_The mother brushed a hoof over their daughter's two toned purple and pink mane. The new born filly cooed in her mother's hooves._

_"Oh... Isn't she beautiful, Velvet? She looks so much like you. What are we going to name her?" Night Light asked._

_"I... I don't kno-" She stopped upon remembering a name that was suggested to them some time ago. "How about... Twilight Sparkle?"_

_"Twilight Sparkle? That name our friends came up with during our talk?"_

_"Yes. It's a little hard to admit but I think it would fit her quite nicely." Velvet rubbed her nose on Sparkle's._

_Night Light nodded to Twilight Velvet, trotted to the other side of the bed, and rested his head above his daughter. For the entire time that night they were unaware of the fire that had taken place during the time of their daughter's birth. They fell asleep in the hospital for the night, getting a bit of rest so when they get home, they could introduce their son and friends to Twilight Sparkle._

* * *

(Six Years Later - Now in current time)

"Stop! Thief!" A mare yelled as an apple was stolen by a colt. "Help! That brat stole another one of my apples!"

"He's at it again! Call the guards!" A stallion yelled, sounding an alarm from a bell tower to call Royal Security.

An alarm in the form of a loud single horn blew, alerting The Canterlot Royal Guards of the latest theft. This had to be the forth time this week within the three years they had been attempting to capture the same criminal. It was going to be even more embarrassing for them to bare than it was now if they didn't get him today.

"They're just going to call the Royal Guards again? Heh. Pathetic. Why do these ponies have to be so dimwitted. It's almost heartbreaking for me to do this to you." The thief began to say, jumping from building to building while eating the apple he stole. "Everything could be much more simpler if you'd just handle it on your own instead of asking for help, you undependable losers! That's why the outcome is always the same!"

The criminal wore a Black cloak with a symbol of a Phoenix spreading it's flaming wings and a rusted chain around his neck to keep his identity a secret. The only visible parts were his four fingered talons, so he could have been mistaken for a Griffin. But it was hard to tell because his back feet were regular pony hooves.

With him being out of sight up on a roof of someone's house he stood still to take a bite of an apple. He gazed ahead at the city, a smile plastered on his face full of amusement.

"Oh Canterlot. It used to be such a peaceful city. Full of snobs, of course, but it wasn't too bad a place to stay. Nowadays a certain routine has made it not-so-peaceful. It's always the same each day: Take something of theirs, run away and have them chase the thief, laugh at them at the end of the day. Oh wait!" He jumped down from the roof yelling for everyone to hear. "That's me! And I'm loving every moment!"

Everyone on that block heard him yell those words, provoking them to call the Guards their way.

"Over there! He's going that way!"

Ten of the Royal Guards were hot on his tail, appearing through a donut shop they were having lunch in. Three of them still had some jelly on their muzzles from their jelly donuts.

"Oh no...! There's so many Guards! Whatever shall I do?" The thief said sarcastically, stuck his tongue out and sticking his thumbs on both sides of his head to tease them, and then spit some fire balls at them. "Later, losers!"

Just then, ten more came out in front of him, with spears ready to attack him.

"Whoa!" The criminal stopped running, keeping his distance from the Guards in front and behind him. "This isn't good."

"Stop where you are, street rat! Today we've got you surrounded! You can't get away now!" One of the Royal Guards announced, coming closer to the thief.

"Well I'd love to do stay, I really would," He shrugged and than put talons on his hips. "but I can't today... So have some of this THIS!" The thief jumped into the air, using flames from his talons to give him a boost, and let three round grenades out of his cloak, attempting to get past the Guards by going over them, and distract them with a little Ka-boom. "Ciao!"

"Ah-ah!" A Unicorn Guard created a barrier in front of the thief, and another to block the bombs. "You're not getting away this time!"

The criminal hit his face on the the barrier, and fell down towards the Guards under him holding a trampoline. The thief had a trick he'd been saving, though.

"_You're not getting me that easily! If those three bombs won't work, then I'll have to think of an alternative! There isn't much around me to us to my advantage with all these Guards in my way._" The thief sub-consciously said, using magic to make a smoke cloud. "_I'm running low on smoke bombs, so I'll have to use magic for this. I better think quickly!_"

In the cloud of smoke; he blew some fire at the Guards as a distraction, which were able to get through the barrier. the Guards dodged them effortlessly. They shot their own magic attacks at the cloud to retaliate. Only thing was, when the smoke cleared; a black ball dropped on the trampoline and bounced into three of the Guards' face's. The remaining three avoided the ball, but just barely. The ball bounced a few feet away from them, and on the third bounce it opened up, revealing a clown inside with a laughing voice box.

"What?! Where did he go?!" They exclaimed, looking all over for him.

"Not again! We have to find that street rat and bring him to the Captain before he makes us do thirty laps around the castle again!" The one who seemed to be leading the other Guards in that group ordered, sending them off. "Wherever you're hiding, we'll find you! Mark my words, thief!"

Meanwhile the thief was running around through alleyways, avoiding the public. He had used the fire balls he spit at the Guards as a distraction earlier to get through the barrier before it closed. He sneaked through a couple shops, keeping out of the sight of ponies and stole a few more items in the process. He then went through an old retirement home, being seen by nearly everyone inside.

"'Scuse me! Coming through!" He told the ponies he passed by, exiting through their backyard.

The criminal took a cookie in the process and took a bite out of it. He spit it out and threw it away when he found out it wasn't the flavor that he liked. The ponies that the criminal ran past were merely confused as to what was going on. The only one who did anything was an old mare using a cane. She went outside, saw a few of the Guards coming her way, and waved to them.

"He went that way!" She cried, pointing towards the thief with her cane.

"Thanks, ma'am!"

the Guards went from a tired jog into a sprint for the thief. The criminal looked behind him to see how close the Guards were. He bumped into a few ponies that were waiting in line for a book signing, which slowed him down. Pretty soon they were catching up to him, only being three yards away.

"There he is!"

"STOP!"

"Huh?" The thief looked behind himself again upon hearing their yelling. "You guys just don't quit, do ya? If you wanted to play tag or hide 'n seek; then you should have just said so! I'd love to play! In fact; I'll hide!"

The thief found another alleyway to hide in, so he turned the corner to there and hid between two dumpsters. Quickly running out of ideas, the criminal looked at the apple he stole and took about three bites out of. An idea quickly came to him.

"Guess lunch will have to be skipped for today."

The criminal put the apple to his horn and began to enchant it with a magical aura. He threw it out of the alley and quickly climbed up the wall he was leaning on for an escape route with support of the dumpsters. Once the Guards had reached the apple, it blew up. It wasn't dangerous, but instead gave off a rather sweet, flowery perfume.

"I must admit that this smells nice." One of them admitted, whiffing at the air some more.

"No time for that, idiot! We have to find that criminal!" Another replied, looking everywhere in the alley for the thief.

The thief was already three blocks away from there by then and counting. Deciding that he was far enough to be on the ground again, he hopped down from the side of a library. He ran another block just to be safe and turned to hide in another alley, but unfortunately bumped into someone else.

The Captain of the Royal Guards.

His armor looked heavier than the rest. And instead of it being Yellow, it was Silver with a sun crest on his helmet and body armor. The Captain himself was a lime green Pegasus, and also appeared to be buffer than the rest of the Guards, like he had been working out just before getting here.

"What the?" The criminal looked up to see the grinning captain. "You..."

"Well... Well... Well... Look what the little colt bumped into. You're about to be put on time-out, real bad time out." The Captain said, grabbing the criminal by the hood of his cloak using his spear. The chain nearly choking him.

"Yeah. Nice to see you. Now let me go, gator breath. This is pretty painful." The thief replied, struggling to loosen the chain so he doesn't choke to death.

"No can do. You're mine now, and I have so many things I have been dying to do to you." The Captain pulled the thief closer to him, but not enough to see his face.

He could only see the crimson red fur, the small amount of orange hair over his forehead, and his eyes that was hard to tell if they were blue or green, due to the shade in the alley and the hood. The Captain grinned deviously upon instant recognition of who he was.

"I have finally gotten my hooves on you, and you are not getting away from me again!" The Captain seethed in the thief's face.

The thief's cheeks puffed and his head arched back for a second. He waved a talon to his right over his face.

"Eww...! Did a swamp monster slug it's way into your mouth and dissolve today? Or at least give your mouth a little toxic spray? I'd love to stay and take you to a dentist, stinkmeister, but I have things to take care of. Like my stomach!" The thief kicked the Captain in the face, yanked out of The Captain's clutch's, and started running. "Whew. Finally. Later!"

"Hold it!" The Captain grabbed the thief by his cloak again.

The chain on the thief's neck tightened again, choking him. This time he broke the chain with magic, then yanked the cloak again. The Captain's grip was tight on the cloak. He pulled back with the same amount of strength. The struggle lasted very shortly before the fabric tore off. The Captain let go of the cloak as it ripped, while the thief held onto it.

Under the cloak was a young red Unicorn, with a brown and orange spiky mane and tail. He could also be mistaken for a crimson Unicorn. His eyes were teal like the deep blue ocean and the green grass mixed into one dark, but pure eye color. A single scar on his left fore leg near his knee. A bag on his back with the strap going from his right shoulder to his left waist, the inside sealed with a zipper. Blue earrings. And a brown belt.

"I should have known it was going to be you the second I heard that stupid little voice of yours! Phoenix Burst!"

"Hi. Glad you know my name. Bye." Phoenix Burst took his torn cloak and broken chain, then ran off again, leaving behind a bomb with mints inside."I'll order you a toothbrush or somethin' later if I'm generous enough, capt, if it's still on my mind! Have some mints instead! They're a good alternative!"

"Agh!"

The bomb made a small explosion. It wasn't big enough to actually touch the Captain but instead spread beads of mints in every direction, including inside The Captain's helmet. Three Guards had just arrived by the time the smoke clear, how little of it there was. The Captain could only take off his helmet and growl quiet. His expression was deadpan.

"Uh... He got away, again, didn't he?" A female Guard in the group asked.

The Captain tilted his helmet enough for one mint to fall onto his waiting hoof. He threw it in his mouth for a taste. The Guards merely watched with raised brows.

"Grr...! Come on! We're leaving! Your tasks are finished for the day." The Captain announced before spitting out the mint. "Ugh! Disgusting..."

* * *

Later in the afternoon, once the city had quieted down after the latest theft everyone had went home for the afternoon. It had been hours since the event and it was nearly sunset. A time for streetlights to come on. For shops to wind down for closing. For friends and families to run home for supper. And for Night Guards, Guards specialized for nighttime tasks, to patrol the streets.

At the cliff where the burning house incident occurred six years ago; a filly was sitting close to the edge of the cliff, but far enough to be able to get up and run if it were to suddenly break apart. She was a purple Unicorn. Her mane and tail were two tones of purple, darker than her fur, and pink. She had a saddle bag on her back with a stuffed pony sitting in the open left pocket. The filly was currently reading a medium sized storybook. The cover had a pony wearing a wizard outfit, using magic to fend off some monsters in a rocky background, seemingly a dimly lit cave. The back had the signature of the author under a wall of text.

Normally by this time she would stop reading and head home. Ponies around her age back in town would still be outside playing a game with a few friends or something to let out a bit more of their energy before calling it a day, unlike her. She had never spent much time around any of the other fillies and colts. She'd spend most of her time reading in this spot, occasionally bringing her stuffed pony with her.

She took a break from her book to look at the afternoon sunlight.

"Hm... I think it's time to head home now. Mother, father, and big brother would worry about me if I'm late. But..." She looked back to her book.

She had just gotten this book from her brother recently. She loved it so much, seeing as though she was reading it for a long time. The book was a quarter of the way finished as there weren't that many pages for her to read left. For this one time she decided against leaving.

"I think I'll read one more chapter of this. I love this story so much that I can't stop reading it." She faced her little toy pony. "What do you think, Mr Smarty Pants? With only three more chapters to finish, we could read one more, right?"

She waited a few seconds for an answer from the toy. Upon getting no voiced response she took it as a yes.

"Okay then. Now listen carefully." She opened her book back up and began reading her next chapter.

The sounds of the air helped to keep her calm while she read. The cool thin blades of grass tickled her body, but not so much that it bothered her. She liked being in this spot. It had been closed off from everyone, but she always ignored the sign and trespassed here without ever being caught. Because of this, she made it her treasured spot. However she only wished she had someone to share this place with. Someone who wouldn't expose her.

In the forest behind her. A figure was walking through. Judging from the torn cloak it was Phoenix Burst walking through the path that lead to where that same house fell. He ate the rest of another apple he stole earlier, and threw the core on the ground. He had little to no care for nature.

"Mmm. That hit the spot. Gotta thank those idiots sometime for these. Wish I had some cookies to go with it though. Now to watch the sun set." He said as he stopped for a second to stretch, then continued forward. "I also need to make more bombs. I'm running low on them again. And I need to fix my cloak and chain. The Captain could've killed me there. Maybe I shouldn't wear around my neck anymore. And as for the cloak, it took a while trying to fix it last time."

Phoenix Burst pulled the cloak out from a bag around his shoulder that was hiding under the it earlier to examine the tear closely. It was a big tear, starting from the left side of the Phoenix to the bottom of the fabric. He shook his head in disapproval and threw the cloak back into the bag. He looked up towards the cliff after closing the bag, and his expression became one of surprise upon seeing someone there. He didn't expect to see a filly here of all creatures. Let alone at this time. Only he was supposed to know about this area.

This was just about. The. Worst. Possible. Thing!

Well, almost the worst.

"_Who the heck is she? I've never seen her here before. What's a filly like her doing here in my private spot? Nobody just comes here without my permission!_" He frowned at the filly as he spoke subconsciously.

He was about to walk up to her and insensitively shout "Hey! What are you doing here?!" at her. However, If he did that, she might run away and tell all of Canterlot that she was confronted, face to face, with the young criminal. And if she were to do that, she would have gotten herself and Phoenix Burst in trouble, and he was not ready for another lap around town and deal with the Guards.

"_Why of all days does someone have to be here? Doesn't she know that this place is strictly forbidden? Argh! I need to think of something to get rid of her so I can have my alone time!_" Phoenix Burst thought as he took a step back.

By accident he stepped on a twig. The filly perked her ears up at the sound of a snap and quickly turned around as if she knew she was being watched.

Technically, she is.

Phoenix Burst lunged himself behind a tree the second he stepped on the twig instinctively. He looked to where the filly was on the other side of the tree. While watching he took out the torn up cloak in case it would come in handy. Maybe he could kidnap her and keep her somewhere that is easy for the towns ponies to find.

The filly was backing herself closer to the edge of the cliff. She brought her plush pony over to her and hugged it tightly. From knowledge of this cliff Phoenix knew that it wouldn't hold her for long, nearly having fallen himself.

"H-Hello? Who's there?" The filly asked fearfully.

The thought of being caught by someone caused her to feel very frightened, nearing the point of panic. What if the Princess found her way here and wanted to take her back home? Or what if it was someone from her family? Her brother? Father? Mother? All of them would have been disappointed in her, but her mother would have been cross the most with her.

Phoenix Burst stopped watching the filly to devise a plan. Someway for him to keep hidden and get her to leave before another piece of that cliff breaks and collapse's under her.

What came next made him jump a little: the small part of the cliff that filly stood on was beginning to crack. The ground around her was breaking apart starting with the spot she was standing on. She became even more frightened and run ahead before it began to break.

"Wait." The filly looked back, nearly forgetting her book. "No! I'll get in so much trouble if I lose it!"

"No! Wait!" Phoenix Burst blurted out upon hearing her say those words.

The filly threw her toy towards the pathway to Canterlot and went back for her book and saddle bag. She sprinting towards it and avoiding any cracks to not make things worse. The weigh of her when she hit the ground after every leap was not helping her situation at all. Once she got her book, she looked back to see who was there with her. She definitely heard a male voice yell that time, but she wasn't able to ask when the cracks gave out on her, causing her to fall.

With her magic she threw the book towards the forest path with Mr Smarty Pants before it joined her in falling to her death. Thankfully she was able to hold onto a rock to keep safe. Her time was running short. She screamed for help and kicked at the rocks to help herself up. Phoenix Burst looked back once again to see how bad it was getting.

"AHHHHH!" The filly screamed.

"_Damn it! She's going to die if someone doesn't help her!_" He thought, beginning to run back to Canterlot.

He stopped the second he was two inch's away from the tree he hid behind. It was clear to him that number 1: there was not enough time to get help before that cliff cracks even more. Maybe completely crumble, sending the filly to her doom.

Number 2: if he so much as stands in the middle of somewhere in the open to be seen by everyone, he would be in major trouble.

Finally number 3: NO ONE would believe a word he says. He's a criminal. He couldn't be trusted even if he was telling the truth.

There was only one option left. One he absolutely hated: rescue the filly himself.

But then there was something else. Why did he care? He knew nothing about this filly, nor did he care about her safety. Her life meant nothing to him, and yet the thought of saving her life was invading his mind. This one girl who found her way here was in his thoughts, and suddenly he's frozen in a mind jam, debating whether to save her or not.

He groaned at the mere thought of doing something heroic. That's something a goodie four hooves would do, not him. He just wished he hadn't came here this afternoon now.

"Someone help! I can't get up! AHH!" The rock the filly was holding was loosening and she couldn't hold it for long because her hooves were getting tired.

Phoenix Burst began to run towards Canterlot and stopped as he lifted a leg. He faced the cliff to save the filly, and stopped when lifting a leg. He repeated this three times each before stomping the ground in frustration.

"Argh! Damn it! All of this because of a twig!" Phoenix Burst began to form a magical aura from his horn. "I'm not doing this as myself! This had better work because there isn't much time!"

This was the first time he ever tried to use this spell. He never found any use for it and he never tested it beforehand. This was going to be it's first use and he wasn't 100% sure it would work. This was a life or death situation and this was the only time he could test it if he was to save that filly.

Phoenix Burst's horn illuminated a red aura, and it traveled down throughout his entire body. It didn't hurt but it wasn't very comfortable, either. The spell changed his fur color from crimson red to beige. His eyes, hair, and tail color's remained the same. It took the torn cloak out of the bag and changed it to a black sweat shirt with a hood, fixing the hole in the process. With the transformation finished He looked at his new figure thoroughly, finding it... Alright, to say the least.

"Hmm... This might work, I guess. But the shirt is a little lame." He remarked as he checked his tail.

The filly would find him suspicious if she saw him with a hairstyle, tail, and talons that looked identical to his original form. In his saddlebag he pulled out black gloves to hide his talons, and quickly put them on. And last he tied the back of his mane with a hairband and another for his tail he kept in his bag, just in case he ever needed to use this spell.

"Finally." He said before hearing the cracks from the cliff getting worse. "Oops. Gotta hurry."

He ran to the filly, stepping over the cracks like he saw her do minutes prior. Seeing her grip on the rock loosening to the point where she might let go in just seconds, Phoenix Burst stuck his talons out and grabbed her left fore leg.

"I got you! Just hold on!"

"What?"

The filly raised her head to look at her savior eye to eye. Upon looking at his teal eyes, she grow nervous and angry as she thought she was being saved by the criminal, but she found herself wrong when noticing his fur color was completely different. His talons, however, kept her skeptical.

"Wh... Who are you...?" She asked in a whisper.

"No time for questions, girl! This is a life or death situation here!" He replied, having trouble holding her leg with both talons.

The filly could see the trouble he was having. She wondered if he had ever done this before, and why he didn't call for help. By instinct she lifted her right hoof for him to grab.

"Here! Take my other leg!"

Phoenix Burst opened one eye and saw her right leg held up. Understanding what she was doing he took his left talon away from the right to grab her other leg. Now having hold of both legs, he used all his strength to pull her up.

"Okay, just hold on...!" He strained from her heavy weight. This was definitely something he wasn't used to.

The filly used her back legs to help them get her up. With the added strength they were able to get her up and away from the cracks safely. She sat down and breathed softly to calm down. She didn't dare speak a word until she was sure she was okay.

The filly looked behind her for her savior. She checked both her sides. He was nowhere in sight. Only the book she threw to safety with Mr Smarty Pants. She got up and checked everywhere around her for her hero to thank him.

"Hello? Are you still here? I wanted to say thank you." The filly nervously told whoever she thought she was talking to.

Of course he saved her life just now so he couldn't have gotten far, but she was still worried about him exposing her to the Royal Guards or her parents and brother. Was he good? Bad?

Phoenix Burst nearly flinched from hearing the filly call him out, but remained in composure. He was hiding behind the same tree again like his life was now in danger. It would have been IF he was Phoenix Burst. He was clearly someone else now judging from his new look since the spell hasn't worn off yet.

"_Wait. Why am I hiding if my appearance is different? Since the spell worked and is still in effect, I can be seen in public. Even to that idiot of a girl._" He spoke in his head as he turned only his head around towards the cliff, seeing the filly staring back at him. "Shoot!"

"Hold on a minute! Don't hide! I won't tell anyone about you, just come out!" She cried loud enough for him to hear and nobody else. She spoke quieter, thinking she might have scared him. "I just wanted to thank you."

"Fine. Here I am. Happy?" He said after exhaling sharply and walked out in the open for her. "What are you doing here? Only I was supposed to know about this place! You were nearly killed just now."

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't think anyone else came here besides me." The filly's face became red from nervousness, picking up her book. "I was... Just reading a book. It's what I usually come here for."

"Really? Don't you want to play with the other foals? Like throwing a ball around, or sliding down slides in a playground, or make sand castles?"

"No. Not really. I don't usually 'hang out' with other fillies and colts. I don't get along with others well." The filly blushed even more and kicked the dirt.

"Hm. So that means you don't have friends, huh?" Phoenix asked, standing next to the filly on her left side.

"No, I don't." She looked up at Phoenix Burst and asked: "Do you have any friends?"

"No. I think friends are overrated."

"Overrated?"

"Yeah. Overrated. I figure that all of Equestria, wherever you look, there are friends and family. It's a sight that doesn't end. I just don't like it very much. I don't like overrated things, especially friends."

"Well, friends and families can't be overrated. Not unless they're talked about a lot. Ponies don't mention or talk much about those kind of things, so it could be underrated. Well, there are stories like fairy tales on the other hoof, like when super heroes make big speech's about friendship, or when a young filly or colt talk about the importance of family. So I guess it could be overrated in stories, if that's what you mean." The filly explained sitting down with her book and toy beside her. "And if so than you must read a lot of stories."

"Stories? Don't be silly. I don't find it necessary to read that much. I find it boring to just stare at words, pictures, or both for a long time. But I guess you have a point that not many ponies do mention that stuff very often. Though I still don't like hearing it." Phoenix Burst sat down with her, making himself comfortable in the grass. "So what's your name, lass?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. I am Twilight Sparkle, not 'Lass'." Twilight Sparkle answered, introducing herself with a hoof on her chest.

"Twilight Sparkle? That's a nice name. Only; I don't see anything resembling twilight at all, and you're not sparking."

"What?! Of course I don't have or do either of those. Nobody can do that." Twilight found her savior's remark insulting, but she had yet to learn of his name. "So what's your name?"

"My name? Well I'm... Uh..." Phoenix sat completely still, frozen it worry over his stupidity. "_Shoot! I forgot to make up a name in case she ever asked! And I call myself smart!_"

"You're who? Don't you remember your own name?" Twilight asked leaning closer to him.

"Well it's... Uhm..." Phoenix tapped his chin for a second, trying his hardest to come up with something fitting before she became suspicious of him. "It's... Clear Fire!" He declared, more so to himself than Twilight.

"Clear Fire? I have never heard of a pony with a name like that."

"Yeah, well that's my name. It might be because I have the power to control fire, without using my horn." In his head he slapped his forehead with two talons instead of one for revealing that. "_IDIOT!_"

"Really? You can control fire with your own body?"

"Welp. No point in hiding it now, dumbo." Clear continued speaking in his head. He looked to Twilight and gave an uneasy grin. "Uh... Yes. I could show you if you'd like to see it."

"Right here?" Twilight asked, leaning back a little.

"No, silly. I'll do it over there" Clear pointed a few feet away from them. "so you don't get hurt." Clear got up, and walked away from Twilight to begin his demonstration. "Okay. Here I- Wait a sec!"

Twilight grew a question mark above her head after hearing Clear Fire stop.

"What is it?" She asked, perking her ears up again.

"Isn't it obvious? What I'm wearing could burn off. Give me a second."

Clear Fire took off his sweat shirt first, then the gloves, revealing his Griffon talons. Twilight had been curious about the gloves and now that she knew what was under them...

"You have talons? I didn't even notice them when you saved me because of those gloves. That's so... Strange."

"Strange? Why?"

"Well how come you have talons instead of hooves? No other pony in all of Equestria has something like that."

"I have actually noticed that, but I've only been in Canterlot, so I don't know about ALL of Equestria. I don't really know how I got them. I just figured I was born with them, or someone changed my hooves when I was really little." Clear replied, looking at his talons. "Now I took my gloves off because I didn't want to burn them to a crisp, even though they are the least likely to burn. If you may be so kind as to hold them for me, milady, I'll begin my demonstration!"

"Why of course, sir." Twilight replied with a giggle afterwards, taking the gloves and sitting them in her lap.

Clear Fire squeezed the ground, held his breath, and strained his body so his fire powers could get a kick start. A small fire field formed around him and he slowly rose off the ground. The field of fire began to shrink the higher Clear got from the ground. Twilight watched in awe of this. Her eyes had sparkles in them showing how much she liked what Clear was doing.

The flames stopped shrinking and formed into a ball that went into Clear Fire's mouth for a fire breath. The result of all this was a burp, which caused him to shoot a sloppy stream of fire out of his mouth three feet over Twilight Sparkle's head. His powers faded and he landed talon-first on the ground.

Instead of feeling disgusted, Twilight Sparkle was only giggling from Fire's little burp.

"Ugh... I forgot to remind myself not to store that much fire in me before firing it again! Hey! Stop laughing!" Clear quieted down a bit upon his realization. "_Wait. I made someone laugh, and it wasn't to one of my jokes? It wasn't even that funny. Maybe a little. She might just have a weird sense of humor._"

"I'm sorry, Clear, but that was a little funnier than it was supposed to be." Twilight said, holding her stomach.

Clear Fire blushed a little from his steadily growing anger and embarrassment, rubbing his head with one talon. The other talon rubbed his stomach as he regretted having so little to eat.

"So are you going to say it?" Twilight asked after her little giggle fest had ended.

"Say what, exactly?"

"You know. Say 'excuse me'. My mother taught me that you have to say it when you need to get somewhere past someone, when you need something someone else has or is in the way of, or if you burp like you just did. In short, you're showing that you aren't trying to be rude."

Clear looked at Twilight like she was stupid as he began putting his sweat shirt back on. He wasn't going to excuse himself for a simple burp. That was ludicrous in his opinion, yet he didn't know what the word meant. And way too... Polite. He disliked nice and polite things unless there were treats involved.

"Pfft. Why should I say it? I've never heard anyone else say it, so why do I have to?" He asked with his fore legs folded across his chest.

"Because it's disgusting to burp and not excuse yourself for it. Even if others don't say it, that doesn't give you any excuse not to, either. It's good manners, Clear." Twilight Sparkle answered wagging her left fore hoof up and down in his face.

"Well I'm still not going to say it."

"Please, Clear? For me?"

Twilight Sparkle gave Clear puppy dog eyes which freaked him out. He unfolded his legs and put them on his face to shield himself from her eyes.

"Ugh! Fine! I'll say it! Just stop giving me that look! It's creepy!" He forcefully pulled his talons down and sighed. "Excu... Exc..." He groaned in annoyance and whispered a 'Why me...?'

Twilight could see the look of annoyance on Clear Fire's face, but she wasn't going to interrupt by saying something. The face's he was making looked silly to her.

"Ex... Excuse me." Clear finally got out as he lowered his head. "_How did this one filly make ME say something so awful?_"

"There you go! Now you're excused." Twilight replied, clapping her hooves for him. "You see? That wasn't so bad, Clear."

"Hmph. I guess not." Clear shrugged like it was no big deal after all. "So, how'd you like my fiery show, Twilight?"

"I thought it was impressive. You were doing great, until you made that burp."

"Yeah. Usually I could do it without any trouble. To be honest, I think it was because I didn't get much to eat, but the results usually turn out better, so this one was completely random." Clear Fire sat next to Twilight once more.

"Really? What did you eat today?"

"Only an apple. It definitely wasn't stolen or anything." Fire scratched the back of his head, hoping Twilight Sparkle would not suspect anything of him stealing. "_Why do I keep opening my big mouth?_"

"Stolen? Why would you steal an apple?" Twilight asked.

"No reason at all. I just thought you may have been thinking something like it, which would be highly unlikely."

"Oh, okay. Well, I wasn't."

Twilight looked at Fire's face a bit closer, inspecting him closely. Clear Fire had beads of sweat running down his forehead, like boulders rolling down a mountain. But her concern lied more on the fact that Clear's appearance resembled Phoenix Burst a lot.

"You know, you kinda look similar to the Canterlot Thief; Phoenix Burst. By your facial look, hair and tail color, and your talons. I've only seen pictures of him, though." Twilight said.

"Really? Never heard of him." His reply made Twilight raise her hooves up to her face and gasp. And it wasn't even to how blunt he sounded when he said it.

"You're kidding, right? He's, like, the most well known criminal in all of Canterlot as of now. He hasn't been caught by the Royal Guards once in his life. He is very clever. I heard that he even makes The Captain so angry that he will break a wall with his bare hoof just from hearing his name."

"_Most well known criminal in Canterlot? The Captain of the Royal Guards punching walls out of anger? Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me. Sweet!_" Clear turned his head the other way and whispered.

"What was that?" Twilight asked, trying to look at Clear's face.

"I was just thinking about how sad it must be for those Guards _{NOT!}_. This Phoenix Burst guy sounds like a real troublemaker."

"He is. It is said that he is just about our age, and in the pictures I've seen from my father; he does appear so."

"So the Royal Guards are trying to capture a colt that's our age? That actually sounds funnier than it should be!" Clear Fire began to laugh hysterically.

"Clear...!"

Clear Fire had to hit his chest several times to cease his laughter. He still had tears in his eyes, but he left them there.

"Sorry Twilight, but that really cracked me up. A six year old colt, like us, is outwitting the Princess' Guards? No, no. That is way too funny."

Twilight made a slight giggle, and turned her attention to the setting sun far in the distance. She had a goofy smile on her face because she found it funny too, only she was trying to not laugh as much.

Every time she would finish her book reading at this very cliff, she'd spend a little bit of her time watching the sunset. Because she didn't have anyone to share it with, it made things all the more peaceful.

But at the same time it was lonely.

Now that Clear Fire was with her; she didn't know what to think. Having someone here with her in this forbidden area, claiming it was his, was new. And she actually liked having someone to watch the sunset with.

"You know. You're pretty nice, Clear. The only pony that's nice like you that I know is my parents and big brother."

"You have a brother?"

"Yes. He's a bit older than us, and he's kind, strong, and knows a lot. He's always there when I'm in trouble, and he gets me out of them. He help's me when I need a hoof, like with reading a certain word that I don't understand, or when I want a snack. He is pretty special to me."

"That's great. I personally don't know what having an older brother or sister is like since I don't have one. I do okay on my own, but it does get lonely."

"Really? I'm sorry..." Twilight's gaze turned to the ground, feeling a bit of sorrow for, maybe, hurting Clear Fire's feelings with her carelessness.

"It's okay, Twilight Sparkle. I actually don't think about it at all. It cross's my mind here and there sometimes. And when I do think about it, I try to never let it discourage me. If I just keep my head held high, and have a grin on my face, then I'll always know that everything is okay." Clear replied, putting his talons on the back of his head. "And you know what? Until now, I didn't think there would be anyone in Canterlot who didn't have any friends or weren't in any groups. I thought that everywhere I went I would see colts and fillies laughing and playing around. Mares and stallions chatting and working together. I saw no difference in them."

"And you didn't want to be a part of that?" Twilight asked.

"You could say that. I guess what I'm trying to get at is; I... Think you're nice, too, Twilight Sparkle." Clear looked down, and played with his talons. "It's kinda hard to meet someone out of the blue and get to know them. You never know if you have anything in common with them, and have the same interests. I kinda felt that way a little earlier, too. I didn't know how this was going to turn out."

"Wow... I guess both of us do have something in common, then." Twilight replied, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

Twilight Sparkle took a big interest in Clear Fire since the moment he saved her life. Even though she hasn't known Clear for a day he made a big impact on her. Twilight was ready to ask him something, but she didn't know if he would respond with a yes or no. The face he was making when he was hesitating to respond came back which was confusing to Twilight, yet it still made her smile again.

Maybe he wanted to say something first? Twilight tried going first before him.

"Hey, Clear-"

"Hey, Twilight Sparkle? How about we become friends? I mean, I know I said it was overrated earlier, but neither of us have friends, and I just figured that everyone needs a friend. You and me could be friends, if you want to." Clear Fire interrupted her, but asked exactly what she was going to ask.

Twilight blushed again and nodded.

"I'd like that, Clear. You and me, as friends. And you don't have to keep saying my full name. Just call me 'Twilight'." Twilight giggled again as Clear Fire wrapped his legs around his head again, and started laughing before her.

"You got it!"

They laughed for what seemed like ten minutes. Twilight stopped first and yawned afterwards, holding Mr Smarty Pants close to her. Clear Fire stopped a little bit after her and laid down in the grass, his eyes looking up at the sky. He heard Twilight yawn, but made nothing of it. He got up anyway, and looked towards something he hadn't taken into account until now.

"Hey Twilight. What is that doll you're holding?"

"Hm? Oh. This" She raised the doll up to Clear's face. "Is Mr Smarty Pants. I've had him for as long as I can remember. I occasionally bring him here with me during the afternoon to read. And sometimes when I'm just lonely up here."

"Really? So he's like a companion? You have a doll as your companion?" Clear replied, making a comment in his head all the while. "_And with a name like 'Smarty Pants'; shouldn't he have pants that are smart?_"

"Yes. Every filly still has dolls around our age. Some even consider them a 'conpanion'. Why? Do you find that weird?" Twilight laid Smarty Pants down with her book.

"No. I don't mind those who play with dolls. I don't play with them myself, but I wouldn't disturb others for doing it in public or anything. And it's 'Companion'."

"Oh. So you wouldn't mind if I let Smarty Pants say thank you for us?" Twilight picked up her doll and hovered it to Clear's face again.

"No, but I would find it bothering if you kept shoving it in my face."

"Sorry. And about this place being yours-"

"Twilight, don't worry about it. As long as we're friends, this cliff will be ours. Just you and me can know about this spot, alright? Promise me."

Clear Fire stuck out a talon for Twilight to take a hold of. She looked at it for a moment, then to him in the eyes.

"I promise, Clear. This cliff belongs to me and you only." Twilight held out a hoof and they shook on it.

Letting each other go, Twilight Sparkle put the doll down again then stretched her fore legs and yawned. Clear Fire could see the sleepiness Twilight was displaying with her yawning.

"Tired?"

"Uh-huh. It's getting real late." She answered followed by rubbing her right eye for a second. "What time is it, Clear?"

"8 pm. Why?"

"8 pm?! I'm way past time to be heading home!" Twilight cried frantically getting up, strapping on her saddle bag, and inserted Mr Smarty Pants so she could leave. "Tonight was really great, Clear Fire, but I need to go before I get in trouble! No! I might already be in trouble! Bye!"

"Wait, Twilight!" Clear spontaneously called out to her, which surprised both of them.

"Yes?"

"Um... Will I see you again sometime soon?" He asked.

"Yeah. We can come here tomorrow. As long as neither of us are caught." Twilight Sparkle answered before leaving Clear Fire to his lonesome.

"Wait!" Clear cried again with a little more thought into what he wanted to say.

"What...?"

"Um... Don't tell anybody about me, okay?" Clear nervously twiddled his talons. "As you might already know, I'm not good with meeting other ponies, if you know what I mean. So keep me a secret."

"O-Ok. I'll try. But I'm bad with secrets."

"Seriously?! Well, try to keep it a secret. If it just comes out than don't feel bad. I won't mind _{All that much}_. Just don't let it a whole crowd of ponies who hear you."

"I'll do my best, but no promise's. See you later." Twilight answered as she went back to heading home.

Clear Fire grew a grin on his face as he watched Twilight Sparkle leave. He was a little surprised that she wasn't even a little bit suspicious of him being the thief, but more relieved by it. His disguise wasn't that good. His hair and tail was still exactly the same, save for the ribbons that got burnt when he was using his powers in front of her, and he didn't even try to hide his voice.

She really did know little about him.

"Heh! What an idiot. I can't believe she really bought everything I said. All that friendship and being polite crap. Playing with a bag of rags like that Mr Smarty Pants? Ugh! Disgusting! I need to keep an eye on her actions in the future. She might get me in trouble if I'm not careful. There's a chance that she could give out information and secrets like sign-up papers." He said as he turned back to the sunset and sat down. "And it seems that I'll have to wash my mouth a bit longer tonight before bed for calling her 'nice'. Urgh! How... Absurd."

Upon sitting, he noticed Twilight had left her book behind. She never even mentioned it while they were hanging out.

"She left her book. Heh. Finders keepers, losers weepers." He said mischievously as he hovered it towards him, but something wasn't right about this.

This was somehow making him feel bad. She went to the trouble of saving this book, even though it would have meant her being killed. She mentioned before she fell that she would have gotten in trouble with her family if it was missing.

Clear Fire dropped the disguise, becoming Phoenix Burst again. He stared at the book in his possession, thinking if he _should_ keep it from his new friend, or give it back to her. Being the criminal he was, he'd just keep with no objections, but this wasn't him being that thief right now.

"You went through the trouble of keeping this safe, instead of your own life. For a BOOK you put yourself in danger." He growled at the stupidity of it. "Ragh! I might as well keep it since It's in my talons. But maybe..."

Phoenix clinched the book tight with his left talon, and his other talon pulled on his mane out of frustration. "Dam! Why am I having such a hard time deciding whether to keep it or not?"

Phoenix Burst turned to look back at the path towards Canterlot. He went back behind the tree where his saddle bag was and stuck the book inside until further notice. Maybe he would have made up his mind by tomorrow when he meets up with Twilight Sparkle.

"I don't know if I should permanently keep it or not, but just in case, I'll keep it in my saddlebag for when we see each other again. I'll be waiting for you, Twilight Sparkle."

* * *

"And that's the end of part one of the beginnings series! This is the beginning of a new friendly relationship for these two ponies, or three? I don't know. If there are any more errors that needs to be looked at; please, let me know. I am always looking forward to having someone respond with criticism or advise. And again; NO OC REQUESTS. Now this just a small thing I wanted to say that I haven't addressed in this chapter or the others before. This is going to become an original story when I remove the MLP related content. I want to make this into a book series, which will mean changing almost everything from this, but since this is starting out as what you're reading, It'll continue until the end of the prologue. If Fiction Press allows original stories on there unlike here on Fanfiction; then I'll make the new The Magic of Two there. I won't post it there immediately because I'm going still remaking My Little Cupid and Zei: The Return of the Prophecy Saga. Wanted to give it a new name because it's now a saga for the My Little Cupid and Zei series." Battle announced, getting out a letter. "Since I'm the only one here; I'm going to close this part by myself. But before I do that, want to read this short letter some random stranger gave me."

"No! Don't read it, you moron!" The readers exclaimed shaking their computer screens as if they knew what the letter had to say.

"Um... Okay...? I wonder what's gotten into them." Battle opened the letter.

_'For not having time to continue the next chapter of My Little Cupid and Zei, but instead giving time to this; You get a boot to the head.'_

"Hm?" Battle turned around, only to have a boot to his face. "Ow! what was that for?! Alright, you know what. I'm just going to close this part now! This will be the last time I re-edit this chapter. I have been redoing it more than enough times now and I want this to be the final version. Thanks for reading and everything. And now, _Thanks and BYE!_"


	2. Part 2: Meeting Again

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to some more My Little Pony: The Magic of Two - Beginning. You see this here? This... Line of text that keeps making more words? Yeah. I'm going to do less of this for this story, but I'm keeping in the "Let's get on with the SHOW" and "Thanks and BYE". It's not that I'm rushing into the chapter or anything. I just don't have much to say these days. Like maybe... How was your day? Did you chase a cat? Mow your own or a neighbor's lawn? Visit the mall for a shopping trip? No? Okay. Anyway, I'll be giving a little announcement at the end of this chapter, so stay tuned for it. And now, Let's get on with the SHOW!" Battle announced, beginning the chapter.

Disclaimers as always: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. That goes to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do own this story, and the OC's (Phoenix Burst is sort of an OC. He's not going to be an official MLP original character, but of something else).

* * *

**_My Little Pony: The Magic of Two - Beginning Part 2: Meeting Again  
_**

* * *

Early the next morning after the afternoon she got back home from the cliff with Clear Fire: Twilight Sparkle woke up earlier than she usually has for another day with him. She couldn't wait to see Clear Fire again. They may have only met yesterday, but she knew that with some time she'd grow to really like him. There were many things she wanted to know from him. She wanted him to know more about her. And with him being her first true friend she especially wanted this new friendship of theirs to be genuine.

Twilight had never told her family about Clear like she had promised. Nor did she reveal the cliff that she was told not to venture to by nearly all of Canterlot. This was only day one after all.

"Ah...! I have a feeling today's going to turn out great!" She got out of bed with confidence in her leap, flexed her muscles with a good stretch, and rushed to the bathroom at lightning speed.

She had rushed passed her father upon exiting her room. Without him seeing her she literally bashed through him, making him fly a few feet in the air, down a flight of stairs to the main hallway of their home. He didn't say a word as he got back onto his hooves, made a grumpy face, and went to use their one other bathroom.

"I wonder what's gotten her so hyped up today. Did she get something from her mother or brother without me knowing? Or is she just being weird?" He asked upon reaching the other bathroom.

An hour had passed before Twilight Sparkle finally came out of the bathroom fully clean from top to bottom. There was a large amount of water all over the floor from having a little bit of 'difficulties' with a tube of toothpaste. She brushed her mane and tail on her own and couldn't get it to look the way her mother normally made it. Her teeth was cleaned but she dropped the paste tube on the floor and had stepped on it, causing most of the tube to be emptied out all over the floor. That would explain the wet floor that she would get in trouble for later.

All she needed before she went out was to get the book she risked her life for.

Twilight quickly shut the door and went back to her room with a troubled grin. This was the third time this month that she had caused a huge mess in the house that would take more than a day to clean. She didn't want to know what punishment she would get from this after what happened last time. It still gave her shivers throughout her body.

"Sparkle, honey! Come in the kitchen for breakfast!" Her mother called her to the kitchen.

"Okay! Let me find my book first!" She replied, looking through her bookshelf.

Twilight Sparkle searched for a good few minutes, but when she didn't see what she wanted anywhere on her bed, shelves, or drawers; a question mark appeared above her head.

"Where is that book? I did bring it home with me yesterday, right?" She asked herself as she roamed through her stuff for a second time. "I'm sure I brought it with me and Mr Smarty Pants. So where could it be?"

(Downstairs in the kitchen)

"Okay, Twilight Sparkle! Just don't take too long!" Twilight Sparkle's mother, Twilight Velvet, told her daughter.

Just then, Night Light came in. He was also clean from the bottom up and ready for his day. Other then the fact that he was bashed down a flight of stairs by his daughter, he had a perfectly normal demeanor.

"Hi, hon." He greeted his wife.

"Hi, sweetie. Have a seat. Breakfast is ready." Velvet used her magic to set everyone's breakfast on the table.

"Thank you." Night Light sat down in one of the four chairs and began eating. A news paper was already sitting on the table for him. "Hey, hon? Have you noticed our little filly acting a little strange since she got home yesterday?"

"Not really. Why?"

"While she, Shining Armor and I were heading back home last night, she was acting a little bit secretive. I've been asking her every chance I had about where she was, but she would only say that she was reading at her special place as usual. Then just today she ran past me with an unusual amount of excitement, practically pushing me down the stairs when I was heading to the bathroom between her's and Shining's rooms. And I heard her talking to herself about someone when I was checking on Shining." Night Light explained before taking another bite of his breakfast. "Something's got her worked up I tell you."

"Maybe she's finally made a new friend and she's just excited to see he or she again. If that's the case then It's actually a nice little change for her to have such excitement." Twilight Velvet turned to Night Light with another plate of food hovering in the air from her magic.

"You think? Isn't she usually caught up with reading her books to hang out with others outside of us?"

"Yes, she is. And to be honest: it was worrying me. She's usually either by herself or with her brother, but she's never made friends with any of the other fillies and colts her age. I was going to take her out and help her make a friend or two. But if she's already met someone, even if she wants to keep them a secret, then that's fine with me."

"I see where you're getting at. But we should, at the very least, know who her friends are. How old they are. How nice they can be. How they treat her. What if she's friends with a grown up that could possibly hurt her if she is not careful? She's still really little, and won't be able to handle that kind of pain if it were to happen."

"Right. I was thinking about that last night. But let's not think too much about this right now. You have to drop Shining off to school in a couple of minutes. I'll stick with her for the day. Now stop worrying about her and-" Velvet was cut off by Sparkle's scream.

"Mom! I can't find my book!" Twilight was crying on her way into the kitchen.

Twilight Sparkle was basically rocketed down the stairs and landed on her hooves at the doorstep of the kitchen. Night Light's eyes widened and his ears hung down, While Velvet glanced to Sparkle like what she just did was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Why not? Didn't you bring it back home?" Velvet asked trotting to her daughter and wrapped a leg around her head.

"No, I didn't. I just remembered that I left it outside somewhere when I was coming home." Sparkle wiped off her own tears, and hugged her mother. "I have to go find it. Can I?"

"You can, after breakfast, dear. Now have a seat. We're still waiting on your brother."

"Okay!" Twilight sat down in her own seat and looked to her father with a welcoming smile. "Good morning, daddy."

"Good morning, sweetie. You okay?"

"Yes. I only lost the book Shining got me. It means a lot to me and I want to finish eating so I can find it." Sparkle replied with her smile shrinking down to a frown.

"Don't worry sweetie. I might come help you look for it later if I'm done at work early. I don't have much to do today since the work hours are being shortened little by little every week because of Phoenix Burst. And because of how fast I got work done yesterday, which was why I was able to join your brother in picking you up."

"Speaking of Shining Armor; where is he? He's going to be late if he doesn't hurry up!" Velvet chimed in, tapping her left forehoof on the floor to display how impatient she's getting.

"Here I am, mother." Came the voice of a tired Shining Armor.

Sparkle gasped in surprise and looked to where her mother was facing. Shining Armor was definitely in the doorway. She ran up to Armor and hugged him. "Good morning, Shining Armor!" she raised her head up, showing her unhappy demeanor. "Shining, I lost the book you gave me. I'm so sorry. But I'm going to find it! I promise!"

"It's all right. I'll help you look for it around town later today after school." Shining patted his sister's head lightly as a sign of it being alright. "So good morning, Twily. How are you today?" Shining asked. His eyes shrunk upon getting his mother, father, and sister to glare angrily at him. "... Besides you losing your book is what I meant to say."

"Oh. I'm doing great! But I can't tell you why." Twilight answered, smiling happily.

"Why not? Is it so important that you can't tell me?"

"Uh-huh. It's a secret." Twilight's face beamed with joy, which earned a chuckle from Shining Armor.

"Oh... A secret. Well I know how important those are, so you keep yours."

Shining sat down in the second to last chair and scooted forward. Sparkle sat next to him. He shot her a glance after glancing at their parents to see if they weren't listening. Sparkle saw this and instantly knew he might have seen the mess in the bathroom.

"So Twily. Mind telling me what happened in the bathroom? There's a large amount of water and toothpaste all over the floor-"

Nope. He definitely knows.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Twilight Sparkle screamed abruptly, receiving looks of surprise and confusion from their parents.

Sparkle had a sheepish grin on her face while she lowered herself under the table in embarrassment. Velvet turned towards the table to ask what the screaming was for, but as her left hoof was an inch from the floor when she turned, a drop of water touched her nose. All of them except Twilight Sparkle looked up at the ceiling, seeing the water from the upstairs bathroom leaking.

Shining Armor and his father looked at Twilight Velvet, then to each other and covered their ears.

"She's gonna blow!" They cried simultaneously.

"**TWILIGHT SPARKLE!**"

Meanwhile in an old building within a darker part of Canterlot that was much more unknown to the rest of the city; Phoenix Burst had woken up late. 10 am to be exact. This wasn't normal for him. He'd usually be up earlier then this to begin checking the town for where to intrude on, and sometimes listen to all of Canterlot go berserk while he sat back and relaxed. Starting trouble as soon as you leave was a complete na-da, unless the town is practically setting up everything you need for you to start your day.

"I better get ready for my day. I can't keep those silly ponies waiting." Phoenix rushed to the bathroom and began getting ready for his day.

He lived in a run-down hotel within the dark, abandoned area to the far east of Canterlot. An area that is highly unknown to most of the city. From the outside it appeared to be like a minimally polluted slump kind of area. It was a rotten place for mostly, as far as Phoenix Burst knew since he has lived there; homeless ponies and other creatures, dealers, and trash thrown away from the bigger part of Canterlot, if there were any of the first two left, they would rarely be seen. There was definitely still lots of trash being dumped here on a daily basis. Not many ponies in the more populated side of the city dared to venture into these slums because they thought nobody lived there anymore. Even Princess Celestia herself has never went there for even a slight detour. It was a really small place to begin with, so, of course, it wouldn't be known that well nowadays.

Although Phoenix Burst found it to be the perfect hiding place for criminals like himself, he hated this place greatly. It is the only place he could call home, and it's absolutely horrible. No one outside of these slums would accept him into their family, and the reasons are pretty obvious. And there was no way he'd hang around those dealer creeps. Granted they aren't the biggest issue with the slums, they are next to it, he still found them to be awful.

It was said that the last pony to stay in one of the rooms in the hotel Phoenix Burst was living in, which was over ten years ago, had a piece of his/her frontal lobe bitten off by an animatronic bear no bigger than a teenager. It was about an hour before the paramedics arrived to save he or she from the clutch's of death. There was blood all over the room from the incident!

(Audience gasps)

From all over the floor, to the walls, and even the ceiling!

(Audience gasps again)

It was total chaos! Madness, I tell you! Blood spraying all over the bed, furniture, and everything! It drove everyone away in pure fright!

(Audience gasps once again)

... Naw, just teasing you. There was only rusted metal and awfully smelly objects throughout the housing structure.

(Audience aww's, then throws stuff at the author. Even the camera man started smashing the author's face with the cam)

Ow! Ouch! Okay, I'm sorry!

Anyway...

First, Phoenix Burst took a shower, using soup for his mane instead of hair gel by accident. It was due to all the hot water he was using which was making so much steam that he could barely see. While in there he thought about the dream he had last night.

He dreamt of a house on the cliff he and Twilight Sparkle were hanging out at yesterday, burning down in the middle of the night. There were three ponies inside; a hot pink coated mare, a orange stallion/griffon hybrid, and a baby that, by the looks of it, appeared to be a younger version of Phoenix Burst himself. In short; it was a family of three. The father had the ability to fight and control the flames with his own just like Burst can, but he couldn't handle it for long. There was lots of screaming coming from the baby and mother. Not too long after more than half of Canterlot came to help fight the flames, along with who seemed to be Princess Celestia and her Royal Guards; the house crashed down on the family.

The last thing Phoenix Burst heard from the mother and father before he woke up was 'I love you'. It was crystal clear in his ears through all of the crying he heard from the baby. He swore he heard those words.

"_What was up with that dream? Why would I dream about something that I wasn't even a part of? Or was I? How could that stallion use fire the same way I can? Why did that baby look like me? And why do I remember it so well? I have so many questions circulating through my mind, but why?_" He asked in his head, not paying any attention to the hot water becoming cold on him.

He used his fire powers to make it hot again once he was mentally snapped back to the real world, but the water stung his skin because of it. After a another few more minutes of washing he decided to get out. He climbed out and went to the mirror at the sink and saw the mess his mane was. It was hard to comb his talons through it or brush with a hair brush.

"Oops. Guess I was using the bottled soup instead of hair gel." He said using magic to fix it while he stared at his reflection with a deadpan look."There. Now to brush my teeth. Hey. I may be a criminal, but I do like looking my best when being one, or at least when I come out to make The Captain of the Royal Farts and all of Canterlot angry. Not everybody is bad, honestly, but I just can't stand those stuck up, snotty, cleaniac kinds of ponies. Ugh!"

He picked up his toothbrush with one talon, and the toothpaste with the other. He used more of his magic to bring a towel over to him, drying off his nice smooth fur. He slowly put some paste on his brush, put the tube away, and changed his deadpan stare from the mirror to the toothbrush. He looked back towards the mirror at his reflection and threw the paste off the brush onto the floor behind him. He opened his mouth, revealing his clean teeth.

"And that's also finished. Now to get dressed." He told himself as if he was marking off a list in his head. "Maybe I should make a actual list after breakfast. Sure the few apples I stole yesterday are good enough to eat, but they can only fill a colt for so long, and there's only three of them. Not enough for a growing colt like myself."

He rushed back to his room to find some disguise's he might want to wear, depending on where he was going to steal from today. The ponies in Canterlot were getting smarter everyday because of his constant crimes. Canterlot has been increasing the security system rate day by day, bit by bit. Everyone from young colts and fillies, to grown stallions and mares, has made it a top priority to see him captured. So Phoenix Burst would have to be sneakier, improve his tactics steadily along with Canterlot. Be one step ahead. Not let anything hold him back.

The number of Guards had increased since yesterday as Phoenix heard last night when he was heading home. Stallions and mares from all over Equestria hearing about the colt had been signing up for a spot in the Canterlot's Union of Royal Guards, or the 'CURG', to see if they might stand a chance in capturing him. At least 60 had been worthy of being hired within three month's time. Guards have recently began to scan fillies and colts before they enter shops, schools, parks, museums, hospitals, work office's with their parents. Petitions have been filed about the changes that's been effecting the city. Many of the townsfolk getting into fights and having arguments on the streets with the Guards.

Canterlot was becoming an ever growing train wreck all because of one colt.

With that being an issue for Phoenix Burst, there was going to be a bit of a change on how he makes his plans if he wanted to outsmart the new and old recruits altogether. The cloak he wore yesterday was still torn, even when it changed into the sweat shirt for Clear Fire, thanks to 'Captain Douchebag' or 'Cappy' as Phoenix would occasionally call him. He had three more, though, so it was no worries for him. But he found it strange that the tear was only present when it was the cloak, but not as the sweat shirt.

Might just be the spell not working properly.

He went into a drawer and picked out his least favorite cloak for the sole purpose of; if he was to be caught and able to escape again like yesterday, he'd want that cloak torn rather then the others. As proof; there is a wide label stuck on it with those very words starting with 'for' as a future reference.

His only reason for not liking this cloak was that the bottom ends of it gets stuck on his tail at the worst moments it could have, and o_ther _things like it being light purple. It nearly got him caught by the Guards twice because it stands out so much, hence the label.

"Can't believe I'm using this one again. I look like a strawberry covered in grape jam in this. I don't want the others to get torn up or anything but they would be ten times better than this." Phoenix stuck the cloak in his bag and huffed. "Well, maybe if I don't find any use for it later today; I'll throw it away. It'll be a waste, but it's better than keeping it around."

He pulled out the belt with the bombs he wore yesterday and strapped it on. He then went higher up through the wardrobe for a outfit. He picked out a bakery employee uniform with the trademark label "Sweet 'n Sunny", and snickered mischievously.

"I think this will do the job nicely. Wearing this and using the transformation spell might work. Especially seeing as the baker hired a new employee last I heard from there. I need to pay her a visit, anyway." He said, putting it in a saddle bag and zipped the bag closed.

Phoenix Burst closed the wardrobe and went to the door to exit his room. He was about to open it when he stopped upon remembered something important.

Twilight Sparkle's book.

"That's right." He returned to his wardrobe and found the book in the bottom drawer all alone. "I still haven't decided if I was going to give this back to Twilight or not. She will definitely be looking for this. I am almost too certain."

Phoenix Burst began to think about his time with her last afternoon for the sixth time now. The thought of her saving a book instead of her own life proved that she was stupid, but also that she was loyal to her family, especially her brother for whatever reason she had. It made no sense to him why she would put the effort in protecting it. Her brother could have just gotten her another one.

"_I still think that was a dumb thing to do. And I don't understand my own actions either. Why save someone who found a book more important than herself? Why did I find it necessary to even help her? __Why is this still on my mind?_" Phoenix thought as he put the book in his bag and left for town. "I'll have to make that something I ask her later."

(At a bakery in town)

"Oh...! Where is he?" The owner of the bakery, a light orange pudgy Pegasus mare with a light shade of Violet as her mane and tail color, asked before sighing shakily, looking at a clock on her olive color painted wall. "Butter Scotch is definitely taking his time getting here for his first day of work."

The owner of her bakery, Sweet 'n Sunny, paced back and forth under her clock high up between a set of doors to the kitchen. It was getting crowded from all the customers flooding in and she was doing her best to serve all of them herself. She hired someone to help her around the bakery since the other shops had about ten or more employee's working there because of the crimes in town. She needed a few of her own if she wanted to keep her bakery in business, but her newest recruit was running late on his first day.

Three hours ago he should have been here. Three hours!

To add to the problem; with the decrease in prices' from the others shops, and that they were now selling traps and other items to help capture the thief, they were getting more praise from their customers, which meant more money, not to mention that thanks to the employers the other shops had with their excellent service's for their customers, those shops were getting highly more popular. She thought about hiring one or two more to make things easier around the bakery while serving two colts five double chocolate chip cookies each.

"Hey! What's the hold up?!" A stallion asked at the front desk in a very stern tone, showing his impatience by slamming a hoof on the table.

"Yeah! We're all waiting for our orders over here!" A mare added with the same frustration and volume in her voice.

"Oh...! Where is Butter Scotch?" The female baker put both fore hooves on her head as if she had a headache from all the yelling.

As if on cue; a Earth Pony colt barrel rolled through the front door, nearly colliding with the front deck by a few feet and barely managing to get past the crowd of angry ponies.

"Hey Miss Sunny! I'm here for my job! Sorry I came so late." The colt that appeared to be Butter Scotch came in, breathing heavily as he plopped his head on the counter. "I lost the directions you gave me on the way here, and it took me a minute to get it back. Then I-"

"It's okay, Butter Scotch! No time for stories, though. Quickly. In here, so you can start your tasks." The baker said, signaling the colt to come to the kitchen with her.

He did as he was told and ran over to the kitchen with his new boss. He was prepared for his tasks with determination.

Upon entering he was blasted with the sweetest of smells imaginable. Cake. Cookies. Bread. Donuts. Pie. Pudding. Biscuits. Brownies. Custard. Anything you can think of is in here.

Everything was so organized and tidy. Not one spoon was misplaced, or a grain of sugar on the floor. However none of the appliances or cooking supplies looked to be recently bought. In fact, they appeared to be really old. Maybe older than the bakery itself.

"Would you like a quick detour before I leave?" The baker asked, bringing Butter back from dreamland.

"Hm? N-no thank you. I know where everything is. You've shown it all to me only three days ago."

"Right. Now this kitchen is free for you to use to your leisure, but I want you to keep what's on this table untouched." The baker pointed to a round table with cooking supplies and ingredients nearly covering it completely.

Butter Scotch wandered over to the with wide eyes focusing on nothing else but what's displayed before him. There were chocolate chips, strawberries, chopped up nuts, a couple of eggs, three empty measuring cups in different sizes, two large bowls, and a funnel. Now these did appear to have been laid out recently.

"What's all this for?" He asked.

"I was laying stuff out for a new cake recipe and design I thought of. Took me a week to come up with and I can't wait to start making it. Now like I said, you can't touch any of this, understand?"

"Yes, boss." Butter Scotch saluted to her like she was a general.

"You don't have to call me boss. Just call me Sunny Sweet. Now I'm going to be handling the orders from the customers outside. I need you to get started on those cupcakes I told you about yesterday, got that?"

"The 12 peanut butter and brittle cupcakes, and the 12 zap apple and strawberry cupcakes you had me bake as my test?"

"Precisely. All the ingredients are on the table laid out for you over by the sink. I'll be back to check on you later. And don't blow up my kitchen."

"Alright. I'll get started right away. You just deal with those customers." Butter Scotch answered, putting on a apron.

Sunny Sweet nodded appreciatively and ran out of the kitchen. Butter Scotch took off his untied apron once he was sure she left and pulled the helmet down from his head, revealing the Unicorn horn on his head. It illuminated a red glow that spread all over his body. It made him shorter, turned his fur crimson red, changed the mane and tail style and color to a small but overly spiky brown with a little orange on every tip. Lastly his eye color became teal.

It was Phoenix Burst in disguise.

"Heh heh. Sucker. This is like taking lots of candy from a filly, which is fine by me. In this case, I'm taking baked treats instead." He said, wandering around the kitchen to steal as many treats as he could, except for those on the one table he was told not to touch. "Hope she has those mint chocolate chip cookies that I like. And seriously; peanut butter and brittle? Zap apple and strawberry? Actually that does sound good, but really? I only want my mint chocolate chip, thank you. And so I appear to be a jerk (Or a dick), I won't mess with your table. I might want a taste from whatever you make."

He took some plastic bags from his saddle bag and began inserting the small goodies that could fit inside the bags like cookies and donuts. He found everything he wanted in different locations of the kitchen. Seems like the owner was in such a hurry that she couldn't couldn't keep everything secure with a trap that only she could operate before nightfall. He almost felt bad for doing this.

The key word is almost.

He had collected three trays of cupcakes in a box, five batch's of MCC cookies and only two batch's of Vanilla donuts in the plastic bags, and three medium sized tubs full of frosting and stuck them into his saddle bag when a security camera on the ceiling above him had caught him on the act. The camera zoomed in on Phoenix Burst, keeping him locked on sight, and a small red light came on.

A bell rung from under Sunny Sweet's desk, notifying her that someone had broken into her shop. She had managed to get it installed last night after yesterday's theft which had cost her a lot of money. Because of that it meant she could only hire one employee at the time. She had seen the thief pass by overhead yesterday while he was escaping from the Royal Guards, which was why she bought the system in the first place.

By now everyone would find it typical of him to run away.

"What?! How could this be!? I had security cams set up throughout most of the shop, and still someone broke in!?" She exclaimed, unintentionally getting the attention of everyone in the shop. "I've been watching and listening to everything from the first jingle of the door bell, to everyone's yelling and bickering up to this point all day and still..."

"It could be the work of that ruffian, Phoenix Burst!" A stallion yelled.

"He must be up to no good again! The same as usual with him!" A mare added.

"I hope you're right! I'm calling the Guards to bring them here just in case it is him!" Sunny ran into the kitchen to use a phone. "_Just how could he have got in here, though? I didn't see him come in here at all. I need to ask Butter Scotch in case he's seen Phoenix Burst somewhere._"

Phoenix Burst was just about to open the backdoor to make his escape with three heavy bags full of stolen goodies when he had been caught by Sunny Sweet. She was staring directly at him with a murderous glare when he had one talon on the door knob, and the other holding the heavy bags. Phoenix looked back with a goofy smile.

"H-Hi... I'm just uh... Taking these... For a walk! Yeah! That's it!" Phoenix imitated a dog bark behind the bags than looked back, still smiling sheepishly. "See...?"

"Phoenix Burst!" Sunny Sweet charged at him like a bull.

"Uh-oh!"

Phoenix Burst yanked at the door a few times trying to open it. Sunny surely thought ahead in locking it in case someone did break in.

"_Damn it! It's locked!_" He screamed in his head before looking back, dropped the bags, and somersaulted successfully out of the incoming baker's path.

Sunny Sweet smashed her head on the door, breaking it open. Phoenix ran around the table in the middle of the kitchen and back looking ahead towards the open door. Face to face with the outside world, only having the slowly waking baker in the way, Phoenix Burst ran forward to his retreat. The baker's tail caught hold of him and she slowly rose to her hooves. He would have made it past the tail if it weren't for the bags knocking him down.

"I've got you now!" Sunny said with a low pained breath through her teeth from the pain in her head.

Phoenix curled out of her grip, managed to snag two of the bags, and lunged out the door, then proceeded to slam it shut with a back leg before Sunny Sweet could reach him.

She opened the door, growling from the door slamming in her face, and looked to her left and right. She didn't see the thief or hear any clopping of hooves descend in either directions. However a shadow was blocking the sunlight over her head and the sounds of hooves hitting metal and clinging chains caught her ears.

"Hm?" She looked up and saw Phoenix Burst climbing up ladders to the rooftops. "THERE YOU ARE! COME DOWN HERE!"

"Sorry but no can do." Phoenix Burst had gotten to the rooftop, and looked down at the owner. "It was swell working with you, lass. I'll be waiting for my pay check in the mail."

"No! Come back here!"

The signal from the Sweet 'n Sunny bakery reached all over the city, including the castle. Princess Celestia and The Captain of the Royal Guard got the memo. Celestia was staring outside with a look of disapproval. She didn't really do anything. She felt that it wouldn't help in any way if she confronted him. Not after her last few attempts. Her guilt was too painful for her to get near Phoenix Burst anymore, but she needed to see if he was doing okay, even though she was well aware of his criminal business. She hated herself so much for allowing it to happen.

While on the other hoof; The Captain had already set out with his crew. The Captain put down a weapon he was working on to join his stallions and mares to try and capture Phoenix Burst. At least fifteen groups of them came out of the castle to capture him.

Royal Guards that were already patrolling Canterlot had just arrived at the bakery when they saw Phoenix Burst jump overhead.

"There! It's that thief again!" One of the Guards shouted.

"Of course it's him, you nimrod! Who else would it be!?"

"Oh Celestia, from the voice that they have I can already tell it's those newbies from yesterday again. But I'm feeling somewhat happy today. In fact. I feel like singing!" After jumping over a ledge of a store and made sure he was out of everyone's viewing range; Phoenix sat still, tied the heavy stolen goods around his waist, and continued on his way. "This is heavy. Totally worth it all the same. Except for the last bag, though. Oh well."

Phoenix Burst climbed up another ladder to the roof of a house. He ran straight ahead to the next house, but was stopped by three of the Royal Guards in front of him.

"Stop you coward!" One of them yelled. "I'll have your head for a trophy, street rat!"

"All this for a few cookies, frosting, and cupcakes?" Phoenix Burst asked, looking back one more time before hopping down from the rooftop. "Geronimooooooo!"

Phoenix grabbed on two laundry wires, and slid down towards someone's open window. The pony who owned the apartment quickly closed the window, resulting in Phoenix hitting his face on the door. After making impact he's talons slipped out of the wires and fell five feet from the air to the ground. He wasn't hurt thanks to the pile of cloths he found himself wrapped in, but the stolen goods fell off his waist.

Phoenix rose both talons up from the cloths and caught the bag. He stuck his head out next and sighed in relief, but his troubles were _far_ from over.

"That was close. Better watch where I go before those-"

"There he is!" One of the Guards yelled from the rooftops, interrupting Burst's comment.

"You won't get away so easily!" Another added.

"You think that was easy?" Phoenix asked before hearing a few fillies that were around his age or even older giggling to the right of him.

Phoenix Burst shrugged his shoulders in response to them. However over to his left...

"You two! Over that way! And you, follow me!" Four of the Guards that were patrolling the streets at that time were wandering just outside the alley, but they didn't see the thief who was standing in plain sight. "We'll find that rodent if it costs us our job!"

Phoenix made a faint gasp and pulled out a brown robe from the pile of cloths he fell on for a disguise. He ran a few steps towards the young fillies while tying the stolen treats around his waist under the cloth.

"Getting yourself into trouble again, aren't you, Phoenix Burst?" One of the fillies spoke.

"Trouble? Heh! You think you know me or something? My middle name IS trouble!"

"No it isn't."

"Wha... W-well I changed it to Trouble!" Phoenix flashed the bag of sweets under the cloak at the fillies mockingly. "Besides, you're only in trouble if you get caught. And there is no chance-"

At that second, he was grabbed from behind by one of the Pegasus Guards and brought up to his face.

"Got'cha!"

"Okay, now I might be in trouble!" Phoenix faked a whimper, but since his talons were free, he pulled the helmet down on the Guard. "Or not!"

"Oh...!" The Guard let him go so he could pull his helmet back up, while Phoenix started running off.

"Your helmet needed adjusting, anyway. But don't worry! Maybe you'll be luckier in catching me next time!" He said just before getting face to face with a spear.

"There won't be a next time!"

With no hints of fear Phoenix Burst just smirked at the Guard and began to sing.

"Gotta keep one jump ahead of the breadline." He dodged the first spear's swings by jumping into a barrel. "One swing ahead of the spear."He dodged the Guard's jab and knocked him down by hopping off his head.

Phoenix Burst pushed the Guard into the barrel, put a lid on it, and kicked it out of the alley. He looked back to the fillies as he heard them giggling and gave a grin in reply.

"I steal only what I can't afford. Oh wait, that's just about everything!" Phoenix ran out of the alley, only to be dealt with another Guard. "One jump ahead of the lawcolt." Phoenix ran behind a wooden beam to protect himself from incoming attacks. The Guard swung his sword at Phoenix, only resulting in it hitting the beam and making it violently vibrate. "That's all, and that's no joke. These guys don't appreciate I'm completely broke."

Phoenix then ran away from the guard and went up a flight of box's. Once he reached the top he knocked them down with a effortless push of a talon. Half the box's were filled with several dozen fruits, and the other half was cider from two different brands. The Guards got covered in the cider and falling from the fruits.

"Rodent!"

"Street urchin!"

"Scoundrel!"

"Lowly vermin!"

"Just a couple of snacks, guys. Nothing to get mad by." Phoenix Burst sang while walking casually on a rooftop before having to hide behind another beam from a bunch of weapons being thrown at him.

"Rip him open! Take it back, guys!" The Guards began to sing along while rocking a pole Phoenix was doing a pirouette on and laughing mockingly.

Phoenix jumped down from the beam towards the Guards and disappeared using his magic before he was captured by their net they had set up under him.

"I can take a hint, gotta face the facts: magic is my means to survive, ho!" Phoenix sang just before realizing he was inside the living room of a hotel apartment.

In this apartment; there were six mares getting dressed, and Phoenix Burst could see things he had no trouble keeping his eyes away from.

"Who that?" The mares said in unison, turning their attention to the young colt. "Oh, it's sad, Phoenix Burst's hit the bottom. He's become a one-colt rise in crime."

"Not that I regret it."

Two of the mares wrapped Phoenix in a ribbon, then yanked it, causing him to spin into an older mare.

"I'd blame parents except he hasn't got 'em." The older mare sang as she swung a broom at Phoenix.

He dodged it effortlessly and slid towards the younger mares, then hopped onto the window behind them.

"Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat! Tell you all about it when I got the time! Ciao!"

Phoenix Burst was pushed out of the house by one of the mares, landed on a trampoline, and bounced behind a blue filly doing magic tricks for an audience. To hide from the Guards coming his way, he had to pose exactly the way she was doing for her performance.

"One jump ahead of the slowpokes. One skip ahead of my doom. Next time gonna use a sour da pear." Burst ran off the stage once the filly had done a firework trick. Wasn't even that good.

The Royal Guards had ran by when Phoenix was behind the filly, but upon hearing the crowd gasp they turned around to find him sneaking off into another alley.

"There he is!" One of them shouted.

"Uh-oh." Phoenix quickly looked upon being spotted and turned his sneaking into sprinting.

He ran straight into a small flock of pigeons, scaring them off. They covered the Guards' view, giving Phoenix a few seconds to make his escape.

"One jump ahead of the hitcolt. One hit ahead of the flock. I think I'll take a stroll around the block."

Seeing a stallion laying on a bed of spikes asleep, Burst, instead of running, walked casually towards him and laid a cupcake on his forehead. The Guards had path cleared and found Phoenix Burst walking ahead. Most of them in that group gave chase to him. But one Guard had stayed to take the sleeping stallion's cupcake. This resulted in him screaming in pain for the whole city to hear as his hoof got bit.

Once out of the alley Burst turned left towards the marketplace. One of the closest shops was run by a stallion selling jewelry.

"Stop, thief!" One of the Unicorn Guards yelled, firing a five inch wide magic blast at Phoenix Burst.

Phoenix dodged the blast and picked up a piece of jewelry from the stand it did hit. The owner was unharmed but enraged.

"Vandal!" The owner of that stand cried.

"Whoopsie!"

Phoenix turned right past an arcade to a small neighborhood with identical white house's with blue roof's and mailbox's. He stopped at one of them to take a rest, but got himself cornered by Guards on all sides.

"Let's not be too hasty." Phoenix slowly backed away from the raised weapons, stopping at the door. He was about to say something to Guards, but got interrupted by a pudgy mare who had opened the door and was picked up by her, making him drop the saddlebag. "Whoa!"

"Still I think he's rather tasty!" She sang as she raised the colt up to her muzzle, rubbing hers against his.

"Now that's just creepy." Phoenix remarked, pointing at the mare with his thumb then yanked himself out of her hooves. "Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat. Otherwise we'd get along." He patted the helmet of one of the Guards really hard, causing that Guard to become dizzy.

"Wrong!"

Phoenix Burst teleported away from the Guards just as they jumped him. He quickly went back for the saddlebag and left before the Guards realized he wasn't there.

"Get him!"

Phoenix ran through lava rocks that were on the ground because of a stallion balancing on them. The stallion was doing fairly well until Phoenix made him trip from having the colt crawl under him. The Guards followed in pursuit about a good three yards away, but in the process had their hooves burn in tremendous pain from the rocks.

Phoenix Burst passed by another colt, juggling silverware in front of three other kids, all appearing to be orphans. He took one of the spoons, and pulled out a tube of frosting to eat. He hummed in bliss from the sweet, chocolate taste.

In return for taking the spoon: Phoenix gave the colt a small ticking bomb. Five of the Guards got to where the colt was, and took a step back upon seeing him with the explosive.

"Oh no! He's got a bomb in his hoof!" A female Pegasus Guard cried, dropping her weapon.

"Oh get over it! It's not about to detonate!" A Unicorn Guard in the bunch took the bomb from the colt, and hovered it towards him. "See? It just started the countdown. Nothing is going to- Wait a minute!"

(BOOM!)

The bomb blew up in his face when he realized it was set to five seconds, but nobody got hurt. Instead the Guard holding the bomb got clown make up splattered on his face, flowers hovering down on them, and the other four Guards getting presents with a note telling them to hold it up to their face's. They held the presents to their face's like the letter said, and upon doing that they got a pie in the face.

"_Finally my prank bomb worked for something! Took me three months to perfect those!_" Phoenix cheered in his head while casting a spell.

A portal appeared from above the orphans. Coming through were three cupcakes each for them.

"Thank you, Phoenix!"

"_It'll be the only time I do that, though._" Phoenix said subconsciously, waving to them orphans while keeping to the path in front of him.

Up ahead, there even more Guards blocking Phoenix's path. His hooves screeched to a stop and he looked back, seeing the Guards that got pranked were already catching up to him. Above Phoenix was a rope he could use. He figured it was going to used by someone else but he pulled on it a few times anyway and in response it pulled him up. All of the Guards bumped into each other from this and Phoenix began setting the rope on fire from the bottom with his talons before climbing to the top.

He found himself on the rooftops once again. With nobody else up there he ran forward, and without paying attention, fell down a chimney to someone's house by accident.

Outside of the chimney a little filly was doing her homework on a wooden table. It was still a few hours before school was done for the day, so she might have been missing school for the day. She looked at the chimney upon hearing screaming inside. She was about to stand up and get help when Phoenix Burst had appeared at the bottom. He coughed a few times and dusted himself off. He got out and checked the bag for any holes, all while the filly was staring directly at him. The young filly was scared. The only thing she thought to do was get her parents.

Phoenix Burst had finally looked ahead to see where he had ended up, and froze at the sight of the filly. A rain of sweat was pouring from his head and a nervous smile formed on his face. the filly, however, was on the verge of crying out for her parents.

"H-Hey kid! Don't-"

"It's Phoenix Burst!" The filly cried, running up a flight of stairs. "Mom! Dad! The thief is in our house! And he's leaving dirt on our floor!"

"WHAT!?" her parents responded in great surprise.

"Oh no!" Phoenix Burst got up and ran straight for the backyard, leaving his hoofprints behind.

Outside, both his left and right side were blocked by Royal Guards, seemingly just appearing.

"One jump ahead of the hoofbeats!" Phoenix sang as he ran straight towards a hedge.

Because of a sprinkler system on the other side of that bush, It cleaned a little of his fur, mane, and tail from that fall into the chimney. Not much, though.

Through the first set of hedge, he was in a huge flowery garden. Hydrangea, Amaryllis, Carnations, Daffodil, Lilies. There were many of them to count, and all of it was being attended to by a single filly until Phoenix Burst came and ran through her lilies. She gasped as her plants were being crushed.

"Rodent!"

"One hop ahead of the hump!" Phoenix sang as he was losing his breath.

Through the next hedge he was at a party with several ponies watching a colt hit a pinata blindfolded. The colt was knocked down by Phoenix, but the pinata was broken by the thief's saddlebag bashing it.

"Street urchin!"

After passing two more hedge's; Phoenix tripped on a stump while he wasn't paying attention, and nearly fell into a lake thanks to his bag getting caught on a tree branch. Phoenix Burst had stumbled himself into the Canterlot National Park on the far end away from the entrance gate. Everyone around that area caught sight of him. Even a few of the new Guards near the lake were there ready to capture him.

"Scoundrel!"

Phoenix climbed up the tree and hopped back into the hedge. He went out the other side but went back in upon seeing Guards coming through there. Phoenix Burst dashed forward while remaining inside the hedge. His bag becoming torn from the branch's and thorns. A hoof from a Guard shot out from the left side of the hedge up ahead.

"One trick ahead of disaster!" Phoenix climbed out from above, while that Guard got himself tangled up in twigs and leaves.

Upon getting out, two Guards from both sides of that same hedge threw their weapons at Phoenix.

"Take that!"

Phoenix evaded the weapons by jumping onto the tree above him, climbed through it carefully and jumped out onto a picnic blanket accompanied by two mares, took a sandwich, and ran off.

Up ahead was a Princess Celestia statue a few yards from the entrance. Phoenix checked all around him, seeing a lot of the Guards growing tired from chasing him. After gulping down the remains of the sandwich, he pulled out his purple cloak.

"Here goes: Better throw my talons in. Wish me happy landin'. All I gotta do is jump...!" Phoenix climbed up the statue of Princess Celestia, jumped down, and blew smoke onto his purple cloak to make him flout across the calm stream below. "I lost the tempo of the song a long time ago, but I don't care...!"

Since he was only chased by Unicorn and Earth Pony Guards at that time, they fell the stream under the statue. Phoenix flew over the gates to the National Park, and onto the streets again. Most of the Pegasus Guards in the park were tired from flying around so much without end, and most of the other Guards from around town lost his tracks.

"And they're all washed up!" Phoenix said as he went back into the bush's to clean off his fur, or at least what could be swept off. "Better not let Twilight see me like this. And thank Celestia there was some use for this cloak."

Phoenix Burst put the cloak back in his bag, but before jumping out he thought of something.

"Hmm..."

He looked at the bag of stolen baked goods for a short few seconds. He's horn began to glow and he put it on the bag. It appeared to have done nothing, but he knew it worked. He grabbed at the ground, pulling something up and jumped out of the bush.

Twilight Sparkle was just passing by the park entrance, looking for her book without Shining Armor, when Phoenix Burst ran past her from the bush's. She saw him and almost didn't know it was him passing by because of all the dirt, ash's, and leaves he was covered in. The mane style looked a bit different, thanks to him being dirty, but looked identical to Phoenix's all the same.

"Was that Phoenix Burst?" She asked with a question mark hanging above her head. "It kinda looked like Phoenix Burst, only really dirty. I almost wonder what kind of trouble he's in today."

"Get that thief!" Twilight heard the Royal Guards coming her way.

The Royal Guards also ran past her, heading in the same direction as Phoenix Burst. Twilight shrugged and continued searching for her book.

Phoenix Burst, thankfully, had made more smoke bombs the previous night just for moments like this. He constantly dropped one for every corner he turned, and left one for the other side of each corner to divide all the Guards. He snickered for every time the Guards would split up. They'd be looking all over Canterlot by the time Phoenix Burst get's away. And it was too funny for him to see that they were really falling for it.

"They're never gonna catch me now! I mean, come on. THREE years of them chasing after me and I've never been caught yet. I'm just that good, I guess." Phoenix cockily proclaimed, turning to a dead end. "Shoot! Guess I spoke too soon!"

He turned around to find another path to take, when he bumped into one of the Guards.

"Heh! Look who's got the ego." A familiar male voice coming from the Guard said.

"Wha? Dam it...!" Phoenix backed away from the stallion, being only a few steps from bumping onto the brick wall behind him.

The Guard came out of the smoke from the last bomb Phoenix Burst threw and took off his helmet, revealing himself as the Captain of the Guards.

"I knew I'd bump into you again, you thieving germ."The Captain said, coming closer to Phoenix.

"Oh... It's you again. The Captain of the Royal Retards. You decided to come out and play with us, too? I'd let you join but the game may as well be over." Phoenix remarked. "And how in Equestria did you know I was going to be here?"

"You're just too predictable, Phoenix. Always hiding in dark corners and alleyways for protection. It's pathetic."

"Ouch. That hurt me really bad, Cappy. I'm only one colt."

To Phoenix Burst's lower right, there was a hole that lead to the sewers he could enter blocked by two trash cans, but he'd have to distract The Captain first. Knowing the Captain personally, Phoenix Burst knew just what to do for that.

Princess Celestia was watching them from above, and thanks to the position of the sun, her shadow wasn't seen by them.

"Very funny, scum bucket. You think you can talk your way out of punishment as usual? You truly are the same as always." Two of the Guards came from behind The Captain, raising their spears at Burst. "Out of all the trash I've dealt with in my years of being The Captain of the Capital of Equestria, you tend to irritate me the worst. Trust me, there have been a lot of them. Now, Phoenix Burst. With nowhere else to run off to, and you being out of breath, I'd suggest you let us have that saddlebag. If you resist; we will be forced to execute you on the spot. Do you understand?"

"Yawn. Are you done yet? Save the speech's for when my hearing comes back, because I missed every word you said. All except for the 'nowhere else to run' thing. If you truly knew me than you would know that I can make my own exit even when all paths are blocked. You'd have to tie my talons if you want to stop me, but I don't think that's ever gonna happen." Phoenix Burst raised both talons up and sighed. "Oh well."

"That's a pretty big statement, but that's expected from you. They will be once you get over here, and don't worry. You'll be put into a nice little dungeon at the castle. You'll have me to watch you rot in a dark, smelly cage for the rest of your life, while I laugh at your misery!" The Captain started coming closer to the young Unicorn.

Phoenix put a talon to his chin, thinking of a way to get out of this predicament and torturous yapping from the Captain. He knew the dungeons wasn't a pleasant place to be in. From what he's heard occasionally; there were sometimes dead creature skeletons on the walls from when they either got hungry and died from starvation and dehydration, or lack of fresh air since there were no windows. The dungeon was underground so that was to be expected.

The other thing Phoenix heard from around town was that the prisoners down there become bonkers after a long time. The dungeon warden found pleasure in hearing the prisoners go insane.

Either Canterlot might just be full of freaks, or Phoenix Burst was just hanging around with the wrong crowd.

Phoenix Burst looked to his right for a second, seeing the hole to the sewer. Getting to it wasn't going to be easy, knowing how smart The Captain can be. Upon switching his attention back to the three Guards he noticed them coming closer. Phoenix instinctively stepped back. This was becoming a bad situation that would cost him either the stolen items or his life. He'd have to distract The Captain and the two Guards by talking his way around them like he usually does, which by now doesn't seem like a smart idea, or...

"Wait a second!" Phoenix abruptly exclaimed, took a short breather, then continued. "How about this? I give you guys back all the stolen goods, in exchange for my freedom? Just for today."

"Hmm?" Celestia hummed quietly as she continued to watch.

"You're not serious. What you are saying is if we let you give us the stolen items, we have to let you go?" One of the other Guards replied.

"Yes. Just for today's theft, I'll give these back. I don't really need this many anyway. They might have gone bad from all that running around I did anyway. Do we have a deal?" Phoenix took the saddle bag off, and raised it towards the Guards. "Every single bit of the treats I've taken are in here."

The two Guards behind The Captain glanced at each other. They were putting this into consideration, but they knew something wasn't right. The Captain, however, knew this was just a dirty trick at first sight.

"Forget it, Burst. I know you too well for this to be tr-"

"I know you too, Capt, but to be a little nice I could introduce myself."

"... There's no need. You're not getting away from us this time, Phoenix Burst. After all that we've had to put up with, now we have you so close to our hooves. This time you lose, got that? And besides; making deals is somewhat surreal, coming from you."

"You have to be much closer to me to be close, Capt. You're all the way over there. And maybe I don't normally make trades with you. Nothing wrong with trying something new." Phoenix remarked.

The Captain huffed and began getting closer to Phoenix Burst. After taking only four steps forward, the Captain's stomach growled, receiving a fit of chuckles from Phoenix Burst and the two other Guards.

"Shoot! I forgot about my lunch break!"

"Ugh... We told you to eat something before we left. The cook made some real good raspberry and melon pie today." Both Guards behind The Captain facehoofed as the one to the left commented.

"That does actually sound good. You sure you didn't have a single slice of pie, Cappy?" Phoenix Burst covered his mouth to quiet down to his laughter.

Even Celestia was holding her giggling so she wouldn't get caught by any of them.

"_Dam it all!_" The Captain yelled in his head. "Look! I'll let you off the hook and accept your little deal, just for today, but you better hand over those stolen goods, or else!" The Captain threatened.

"Or else what...? I'm so scared of... Whatever it is you plan on doing to me." Phoenix replied sarcastically in a low voice, copying The Captain.

"I will personally bite your neck off, stuff your body into a grinder, and drink a beer while I listen to your body crunch and crack into bits of fleshy, bite size meat chunks. If you want I'll go a bit more into detail." The Captain purposed with a deadpan stare, making the other two Guards move away from him.

"Uh... Capt, that's a little too much detail by itself." Phoenix Burst remarked with the blankest of expressions. "Okay, I'll give it up. But first... (Raise's a talon) Pay me ten bits."

"What?"

"Each of you pay me ten bits and I'll give you the saddle bag."

"You're joking! You said you'd just give it to us in exchange for your freedom!"

"C'mon. If I'm giving these up, then you all are gonna have to give something back in return. These are a lot of treats here, and some of it was going to be my lunch. You'll have to buy them back if you _really_ want them." Phoenix Burst swung the bag in his talon to tease the Guards. "You gonna pay me or what? I could just burn it all {_And risk skipping lunch for today}_."

The Captain shook his head in denial. He couldn't believe his ears just now. Paying that vermin in cash for a saddle bag? He had to be joking.

"What's it going to be?" Phoenix asked. "I'm still waiting...!"

"Captain, I don't we should-"

"Ugh! Fine! We don't have much of a choice. Come on." The Captain pulled out his pocket a bag of bits, and paid Phoenix Burst, as did the others. "You came off lucky today, vermin."

"Pleasure doing business with you too, gator breath. Here you go." Phoenix Burst handed the bag to The Captain and leaned towards his right ear. "Just a little warning, Captain: Ka-boom."

Phoenix Burst ran towards the hole to his right, moved the trash can back and jumped in, then sealed the hole with magic. The Captain looked into the bag, and what he saw made him EXPLODE with anger.

"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH! I HATE THAT LITTLE PEST!"

"Captain, what's the-"

Okay. Take back that comment about the Captain being smart. Inside the saddle bag were tear gas bombs. The Captain growled in rage once more just before...

(Explosion!)

"Thanks for being able to stop by, Capt! It's been swell talking with you guys!" From where the hole used to be a plush dolphin come out. "Here's a little prize for being so kind! Sorry it's not a snail, though! Catch you later!" Phoenix Burst yelled from inside the sewers, running off before the Guards could make a new hole to go down there and chase him. "I need to get cleaned up before seeing Twilight Sparkle. I don't want her to see me covered in all this."

The saddle bag with the sweets were invisible due to Phoenix using magic to hide it while in the bush's before passing Twilight. A few parts of the bag were torn, but the holes were not big enough for anything to fall out. Phoenix chuckled as he ran through the sewers, happy with his claim. Although his back did ache slightly from carrying both bags.

Princess Celestia flew off to the castle without anyone being able to see her. She was surprise that Phoenix Burst, a young Unicorn colt, was triumphing over her specially trained Guards.

Shows how smart they are. She couldn't say the same for the new recruits other than they did... Worse to be nice about it.

Celestia was glad that Burst was able to fend for himself, but she was also disappointed in him for the path he took for his life. The life of crime was not the best position for a child his age, and she truly hoped he was aware of that. Someday he would be captured. He would have to be punished no matter how much she didn't want that to happen. Maybe even killed.

But Celestia wouldn't have to do any of this to him if it wasn't for herself. Most of this was her fault and she couldn't hide it.

"Oh, Phoenix Burst... I am not happy about the way your life turning out. I should also blame myself for allowing this to happen. I shouldn't have ever taken my eyes off of you." Celestia said, entering her bed room to continue her work.

She landed on the balcony outside of her bed chambers. She trotted forward towards the inside at a slow pace. Her thought clouded her from paying attention to where she was heading, and the mare inside calling out to her.

"If only I was strong enough to confront you about this. Someday I will make sure you know, but not now. Soon."

(Later into the afternoon)

It's been a little while later since Phoenix Burst escaped with the stolen items. Three hours have passed since today's theft happened and the city was finally calmed down enough to call it a day, but not enough to stay alert. The Guards that were patrolling Canterlot before the daily events had occur went back home to their families with groans of pain from all the injuries they suffered, while others decided to head to the training room at the castle for some late night exercise before heading home too. The Night Guards went out of the castle to begin their watch over the town.

Today was definitely one of their worst days. Even with having new recruits signed up it was still a bust.

Phoenix Burst was roaming the streets again towards the cliff past the forest. Only this time nobody was out in the area he was wandering. Wouldn't be long before the Night Guards show up, though. He got himself cleaned up after the usual run-around with the Guards. He took a short bath and came out in a hurry to see Twilight.

At least all the dirt, ash, and leaves were off of him, but he still smelled a little bit like rotten apples.

The real saddle bag with the sweets he stole was back at home so Twilight Sparkle wouldn't see it. He passed by an apple stand, kicked it so a few apples would fall out, and began eating one. But not without polishing it since it was on the ground.

"Mmm. Yummy. A little treat before seeing Twilight wouldn't hurt." Phoenix reached into a different saddle bag he was wearing, and pulled out Twilight's book. "I still haven't decided if I'm going to give this back to her. I haven't forgotten what I was going to ask her, though."

Phoenix Burst ate as little of the apple as he could, savoring the taste of it as he arrived at the forest entrance. So much for the baked treats. Most of it went bad when he checked it all after his bath. Some were still edible. He kept it all in a medium sized cooler he stole a while ago for when he got back, but the ones that went bad were thrown out.

The sun's light was steadily getting dimmer as time went on. It was getting darker with every step forward, basically because of the trees of the forest he was wandering through and it was going to be nighttime soon. Phoenix wanted to reach Twilight quickly so they could hang out before she had to go home.

Not that he truly cared about her. It was mostly for the sake of asking that question.

At the other end of the forest, sitting at the cliff, was Twilight Sparkle, sitting on the ground with both of her fore hooves on her face.

"_Twilight?_" Phoenix walked over to a tree, and used the transformation spell to change into Clear Fire. "_Gee. I certainly wonder what she's crying for._"

Clear hid the book in his saddle bag and raised the hood of his shirt over his head before coming out from behind the tree. He took slow steps forward so he wouldn't be seen or heard. And as if someone set this up on purpose; he stepped on a twig like yesterday.

"_Dam it!_"

"(Gasp) Who's there?" Twilight turned to see who was intruding her privacy.

Clear merely waved a talon to her and smiled sheepishly. Twilight's sadness was lifted a little upon spotting him, but her tears continued to run down her cheeks.

"H-Hi."

"Clear Fire? You're here! Where have you been all day?" Twilight cried as she ran up to Clear, stopping a few feet in front of him. "I've been waiting for you to show up somewhere in town, or be here earlier."

"I got held up in things, mainly because of the whole Phoenix Burst crime thing. But hey. I'm here now." Fire explained, crossing his forelegs while he watched Twilight wipe some tears off her face. "So why are you crying? Nobody came out of nowhere and spooked ya, did they?"

"No, Clear. I've been searching all day for a book that I might have left here, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I've been looking for it while I was waiting for you. My older brother even decided to help me. I think somebody took it." Twilight explained, beginning to cry again.

"You mean that book you risked your life to save yesterday?"

"Yes. It was really special to me, and I was almost finished reading the entire book, too..."

"Hey, hey, calm down, Twilight. Look. I might be able to help you out, but you have to calm down, first." Clear put one of his claws on Twilight's cheeks and wiped off the tear on her.

"Really?"

"Sure. We are friends, aren't we?"

"Well, yes..."

Twilight Sparkle whimpered quietly as she turned away from Clear Fire. She didn't want Clear to see any more tears in her eyes, but it wasn't that hard for him to notice anyway. He could clearly see that this book being gone was crushing her.

"Hm... Why don't we sit down and do something? That book will turn up somewhere, but your mopping isn't going to find it." Clear suggested, gesturing Twilight to sit with him.

"Okay." Twilight trotted near the edge of the cliff next to Clear Fire and plopped down beside him. "So what have you been doing all day?"

"Not much. I was kinda just wandering aimlessly around town."

"Really? While Phoenix Burst was on the loose? Did he hurt you?"

"No. I haven't seen him at all. To be honest; I'm sort of new to this whole Phoenix Burst fiasco. From what I could muster up so far; he's one of the most notorious criminals in Canterlot, and the youngest. He's sneaky, clever, knows his way around any tight corner, and everyone seems to hate him. He's a dangerous colt, surely, but I don't think he would go so far as to actually hurt anyone. Maybe someone could get hurt if he's trying to defend himself with his fire powers, but other than that, I don't think he's that big a threat." Clear began to sweat as he explained, anxious of Twilight believing him or not.

"Yeah, well. At least you didn't have anything taken from you..." Twilight faced the ground and sighed depressingly.

Clear Fire began to feel bad for her as he lowered his head to look her in the eye. Though not too much. Through Clear Fire's perspective; by now he wanted to give the book back to her and tell Twilight Sparkle that he kept it in case someone (himself) did try to steal it. As for Phoenix Burst's perspective; he wanted to play this out a bit more and see if Twilight would cry before he actually starts to feel bad. He also couldn't return it until he asked the question.

"... You know, I've always told myself that crying and mopping is for those who have no other options left for them. I see ponies become sad over the smallest things. They get angry and start fights. They pin the blame on others when it's their own problems. Or they run away and cry. It bothers me to no end. When I feel sad, I try my hardest not to cry because it doesn't fix anything. Instead it feels like I'm running away and waiting for someone else to deal with it in my place. Never in my life have I ever had to help other ponies for anything because I didn't have any friends until we met. But right now, you do have options laid out for you besides crying. I can't tell you what they are, but I can help you reach one. As a friend it's the least I can do. As long as we're willing to search for it, I think we could find a way. If any of that makes any sense." Clear told her, scratching the top of his head under his hood.

Twilight looked up at Clear, showing a look of hope in her eyes and a small smile. It made Clear nervous. His talons twitching nervously, and a sheepish grin forming on his face.

"_Don't tell me that actually worked! I was only making stuff up._"

"Thank you for that, Clear. That made me feel a little better, and you're right. I shouldn't let crying be the first thing I turn to because it's just like quitting. I might find my book sooner or later, but tears won't help at all." Twilight announced to Clear.

"Right. But I was only saying that to make you stop crying. All of that was true, but all your mopping was getting annoying." Clear bluntly replied on the outside, but inside was sighing in relief.

"You are pretty straight forward when it comes to speaking to others, Clear. Saying stuff like that could hurt someone's feelings... Like mine..." Twilight turned away again, but she wasn't mopping this time.

"Well I don't like holding in what I have to say. If I came out blunt then excuse me."

"Clear! I'm glad you're not hiding anything from me, but some of the words you say can hurt others." Twilight replied, turning back to Clear with an angered glare.

"Well I'm sorry, alright? I don't want to hurt your feelings. I just wanted to be honest to you and cheer you up." With a blush on his face, Clear reached into his saddle bag, and pulled out an apple. "Here, If you want it. I know it's not your book or anything special, but I want you to have one. To make you feel a little more better."

Twilight made a puzzled look at the apple, but took it with her hooves. She shifted her body to face Clear, and took a bite out of the apple.

"Thanks." She said with her mouth full.

Twilight Sparkle did not notice Clear Fire focusing his attention towards the ground in front of them, since her eyes were closed. Clear was considering in his mind if he should give Twilight the book. It would make him feel... Nice. And as we've noticed he didn't like 'nice' things. Although deep down, he felt guilty for hiding away his newest friend's book for this long.

Phoenix Burst, however, was trying to fight back. Even if they were the same pony, he didn't feel as guilty as Clear Fire. It was a fight between his own heart and consciousness.

"Twilight...?" Clear began to speak, but didn't know where to begin.

"Yes, Clear?"

"_Clear, you must be out of your mind! Twilight Sparkle is your friend, but even so, you have a reputation to keep! You're supposed to be notorious for being a bad colt! Well, to be honest, it might already be ruined._" His mind argued as he stuttered, looking for the words to say to Twilight. "I uh... I..."

Clear Fire's body began to shake. He couldn't hold himself. His face became beet red in frustration as he held onto his saddle bag. By now he was hyperventilating.

"_Dam it!_" He snapped in his head.

"Clear, what's wrong? Do you have something el-" Twilight was silenced by Clear Fire practically swinging her book out of his bag in her face. "Clear..."

"You left it here yesterday when you were going home, and... I wanted to give it to you myself! I'm sorry I didn't give it to you sooner." Clear admitted with his eyes shut.

Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened and was glistening in joy. Clear's back shivered from the silence. Her horn and the book glowed a light hue of purple to take it from him. She took a good look at the cover to confirm if it was really her book.

"Are you gonna-"

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou...!" Twilight suddenly tackled Clear onto the soft grass, tightly hugged him.

"Whoa!" Clear exclaimed as both Unicorn's had fallen back. "Give this Unicorn some air, will ya? I might choke to death."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Clear. I'm just so happy you found it!" Twilight got off Clear and looked through the book, flipping through pages at lightning speed. "It's exactly how I left it. The water stain on the forth page. The slight rip on the bottom of page 27. And my brother's old bookmark he gave me two years ago."

"Like I said; It was here when you left yesterday. I wanted to give it back to you myself." Clear answered, scratching his head again.

He was somewhat happy that Twilight had her book back. The happiness she had was shown just from her scanning through the book like she was looking for the tiniest speck of changes. Still, there was that question he needed to ask.

"Twilight, I'm happy that you have your book and all, but there is something I wanted to ask."

"Hmm?" She looked up with a confused look, yet still smiling.

"I wanted to know; after this cliff nearly took your life yesterday, you had the chance to run home and be safe with your family. But instead you pass it up to save that book, which lead to me having to save you. You keep telling me it's special to you. Why is that? Why go through the effort of saving a book instead of your own life?"

Twilight's happy expression had dropped and her gaze went to the ground. This was something she knew he would ask sometime. And to be honest with herself; she wondered why she didn't save the book first before running away so he wouldn't have to save her.

But in her defense: she wasn't given much time for any choice making.

"I knew you would ask me this. Since you were honest with me, I guess it's only fair that I do the same."

Twilight closed the book, having the front cover facing her. The twinkle in her eyes dying out but not disappearing completely.

"This book is special to me because I got it from my brother not long ago. About one month ago if that's correct. It's from one of my most favorite books series ever, and he went through the trouble of getting it for me when he was trying to save his money for something he wanted for a long time. I had to save this book not because the book itself was special, but the one who gave it to me is special. I promised myself and him that I wouldn't let anything happen to it because of how much he gave up for me. That's why I couldn't let this be lost." Twilight explained, turning the page's to find where the head of Shining Armor she drew was on. "Clear Fire, I can't thank you enough for finding it for me. I could never forgive myself for-"

"Hey, hey, I get it, alright? I only wanted to know why you saved the book and Mr Smarty Smart instead of yourself. And now I see it." Clear's gaze went to the ground, too. "You have someone in your life that's special to you. Someone who you can truly depend on. And it's not just your brother. But you have your entire family you have to depend on, just as they depend on you. You're going to have them all your life. For everyone in Canterlot and all over Equestria, the same could be said for them. But me? I've spent my life wandering around on my own. I never really knew how I was surviving in a place like this. I wouldn't be surprised if I was a mystery to the world. It wasn't just Phoenix Burst that made living here harder, but everyone in general. Nobody would ever take the time to lend me a hoof when I needed it. Not one pony I've seen has done that for someone that is below them. They just go on their merry way. If I could, I'd live the way Phoenix Burst does. Make my own choices, annoy others and laugh at them, steal. But who knows how long I would even last. The life of a villain is a bad one, but it's better than being alone and nonexistent for your whole life! It's like being under a horseshoe and being unable to free yourself! I hate it!"

"Clear..." Twilight trotted up to him and wrapped her hooves around his neck in a hug. "Every single one of us has someone to trust. Including you. So maybe there are a lot of ponies here that won't help another from off the streets at first glance. But not everyone is like that. And sure what Phoenix Burst does effects the town in more than one way, but it is still the wrong way to do things. There are many that will help you if you just ask. And being a criminal like someone else won't make that easier. Besides, you have me. I wouldn't leave you behind if something bad were to happen to you. You're my friend."

"You really think that?"

"Yep. I was a stranger to you, the same for you being a stranger to me. And yet you risked your life to save mine. I think that's proof enough that there are ponies that aren't completely heartless."

Clear turned his gaze from the ground to Twilight and noticed her warm smile towards him. He felt a little better inside thanks to her. But all he wanted to know was; is it Clear Fire that was feeling better from her kind words, or Phoenix Burst? He knew that he was hurting inside. He just never acknowledged it until now. Maybe his loneliness had gotten to him.

"Thanks, Twilight. I needed that. Anyway, don't let anything bad happen to that book again, or let someone like Phoenix Burst take it. If either of those does happen, I'll be sure to get it back for you. But I make no promise's for how long it might take."

"You would do that for me? You're so sweet, Clear Fire. Thank you."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Now I wouldn't go that far! I am not sweet!" Clear folded his talons, and pouted. "If I was sweet, I'd sugarcoat myself in chocolate and sprinkles so you could eat me. And Celestia knows I wouldn't taste good."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. And I don't think I could ever eat you."

"Yeah. but hey. It's no big deal, though. For you, I'll let it pass." Clear Fire took another apple out of his bag for himself. "I still have a few, so I'm going to have one of my own."

Twilight nodded and quietly made her way back to her book for another scan through to see if at least ONE THING was out of place. To Twilight's relief, it was exactly in tip top shape. Nothing for her to panic about.

Clear Fire basically just wiggled his ears as he watched the sun lower itself behind the mountain to the northwest of Canterlot. It was getting too peaceful and quiet for them, so Twilight wanted to start a little talk. Something to keep this visit moving.

"So, Clear Fire. I wanted to ask you something about what you said yesterday about family. I know you said that it was overrated, but I feel that I have to ask."

"Okay..."

"Do you have a family? Like a mother, father, uncle, aunt, cousin...?"

"Nope. Not any that I'm aware of." Clear answered instantly with a deadpan stare.

"You don't?"

"No, I don't. I live all on my own. That should have been obvious after my little rant."

"Well yes. You did make it clear for me to notice. But then why aren't you trying to find a family?" Twilight asked.

"Because like I said before; I don't like hanging around a lot of ponies. I like living on my own. Getting to see the world, learning to do things on my own, and being my own boss. There is little things that can hold you back being alone than when being with a family or having lots of friends hanging with you everywhere you go. But it's not all fun and games, I'll tell you that. It's hard being alone unless you can adapt to everything around you and take advantage of it. You have to be one step ahead of everyone because they don't make things easy. You _really_ have to know how to maneuver yourself through tough situations, provide for yourself, and know how to defend yourself. If you can do all of that, you can live life to your liking." Clear Fire explained, looking back at the city, then to Twilight Sparkle. "Besides, having you as a friend is good enough for me. Living on my own is rough, and we've just became friends. I want to start small if you can catch my drift."

"I see where you're going with this, Clear Fire. Although, what if you're out there in the world, discovering new place's, learning new things from ponies around you, and taking in all the different things the environment has in store for you, but not taking in the fact that there are many things that could get you into trouble. Maybe even killed. Of course there is more in Equestria than just Canterlot. Much dangers that can't be handled alone. There is so much out there in Equestria to explore, but nobody will help guide you further ahead, or want to be your friend if you make the wrong choice's and cause trouble. You said it yourself that everybody needs friends, and it's because of that which makes us friends, right?" Twilight put a hoof near Fire's right talon.

"I think I understand what you're saying, Twilight. Equestria is a pretty big place. There's just... So much out there."

"There sure is, and you don't have to face it all on your own. There is bound to be others out in the world willing to stick with you."

"Well I wouldn't want an entire group of ponies stuck with me at a time. That's a bit more than I can handle for now."

"You'll get used to it someday. There's no need to feel rushed."

Clear Fire faced Twilight and nodded. She wasn't looking back but she knew he was facing her. He looked at her entire body from her tail to head. An idea came to his head, but he wasn't sure if Twilight was willing to do something like this.

"Hey Twilight?" Clear began, still a bit unsure about it.

"Hm?"

"If we're going to be friends, and I'm only suggesting this; how about we make this a special kind of friendship. A friendship that belongs to just the two of us no matter how many friends we make in the future."

"What do you mean? Like a special item only we will have and no one else?" She asked.

"Sure. But the method I was thinking of might make you feel... Uneasy." Clear turned his gaze towards the forest on the last word.

"Would it be scary? Lying? Painful?"

"Well not the first two, but it might hurt. For a second." Clear looked back to Twilight and took her hooves in his talons. "I wanted to mark our friendship in our own blood."

"WHAT?! Are you crazy?!" Twilight yanked her hooves out of Clear's grip, and scooted back from him. "Why would you want to hurt me?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Twilight! Not now, not ever! I was just thinking if we could poke one of your hooves and one of my talons with a needle, connect our poked spots together for a second, and than seal it with magic. That's all."

"Blood friendship? That's... Not something I've ever heard anyone suggest before. However it has been done by ponies before."

Twilight glanced down at her left hoof. She figured that Clear might have wanted to poke her there. This would have been the same as taking shots at the doctor, which still terrified her. Even now she didn't like getting shots, but this wasn't a doctor asking her. It was her friend.

"Well why don't we try something that doesn't involve blood? Do we really need to add our blood to this?"

"Well, no. It was just a suggestion. Like I said; I don't want to hurt you. I'm guessing you have another suggestion?"

"Well how about this? We tie each other with a ribbon, and seal it with magic so only we can pull it off." Twilight suggested.

"It's not a bad alternative." Clear replied with a talon rubbing his chin. "I guess we could do that. But do you have any ribbons we could use?"

"Of course!" Twilight picked out her book once more, and took out three ribbons. "These were for the chapters that I liked the most. I wanted to revisit them when I finished the whole book. I suppose I can give up two of them."

Clear's expression went from curious to irked at the sight of there only being pink, white, and purple ribbons. Two of the colors he didn't like, pink and purple, he felt was an obvious no.

"Only three colors?" He asked with his deadpan stare returning.

"Sorry. I only use these three for my books. I took these ribbons from another book I've already finished, and put them in here." Twilight put the book down and raised the colors up to Clear. "Which one would you like?"

"_You only use three? You could have just used other ribbons from a box set or something instead of reusing the same ribbons._" He said in his head while picking the white.

Twilight had picked the pink for herself, and laid the last one under her book. She gave the pink ribbon to Clear Fire.

"Could you tie mine on first? I've never been good at tying anything like my big brother is."

Clear nodded as he took the ribbon and began tying it on her left leg. He was having trouble tying it on her, even when he was taking it slowly. After about four attempts he groaned in frustration.

"Having some trouble?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. I usually tie everything with my talons, but I can't seem to get it now." Clear complained with his talons clinched. "_And judging from the length of these ribbons, I can see why they won't stay on._"

"Then use your horn. Here, I'll help you out."

Twilight's horn began to glow on a small portion of the ribbon, keeping it on her leg. Clear took hold of both ends with his magic and carefully and successfully tied it onto her leg.

"See? Nothing a little teamwork can't fix." Twilight cheered happily. "Now for yours to be tied on."

Clear Fire shifted his body so his left side was facing her.

"I also want mine on my left."

Twilight used her magic to lift the ribbon and hovered it to his leg.

"Could you help me tie this? I already told you that I can't tie things, so I need your help."

"Sure."

Clear's horn glowed around the ribbon and put it onto his leg like Twilight did. She was still having trouble tying it on while Clear Fire on the other hand was deep in thought, thinking about teamwork. Was what they were doing for each other right now teamwork? Not once has he ever needed help from anyone. He was capable of doing whatever he wanted with no help from anyone. It always worked for him. This wasn't teamwork. He was only helping her out with tying some silly ribbons. There was no 'team' effort put into it.

By the time he came back to reality, Twilight had finally gotten the ribbon tied to him.

"Finally! I was getting a little angry from that." Twilight blew some air out through her lips. "And now to seal it with our magic. But how would we do that?"

"Maybe we just put our horns together and see what happens."

"You sure that's going to work?"

"No. But it's the best option we have."

"True... Let's try it."

The two Unicorn's horns shone once more in unison. They leaned closer to each other to the point where their horns were connected. They focused their magic into a spell, any spell they were hoping would work. For something like enchanting two ribbons, the amount of magic used shouldn't be that big. It took a moment for the spell to finally get underway. The result they got was the two colors their horns glowed and small sparks of electricity wrapped together into a small energy orb. Clear Fire and Twilight Sparkle's eyes were closed so they couldn't see it, but they did feel the energy above them transferring to their ribbons.

Once the energy transferring had stopped, Clear and Twilight opened their eyes and looked to the ribbons. They appeared as if nothing happened to them.

"You think it worked?" Clear asked curiously.

"I don't know. I have never used a spell like that before. Although if it did, then we should be the only ones who can pull them off."

"Let's test it out then." Clear declared as he raised his talon up to his ribbon.

"Wait!" Twilight cried, lowering Clear's talon with a hoof. "If only we can pull them off, then we might ruin it by testing it out."

On that finishing word, the ribbons emitted three sparks of electricity as it did mere seconds ago. Twilight and Clear glanced at each other for a second then back to the ribbons. Twilight hesitated to touch hers, while Clear Fire had no problem placing a talon on his. The electricity died down the closer his talon got, but he didn't touch either ends of it for Twilight's sake.

"I can feel our magic in it. Maybe it worked, Twilight!"

"Maybe. But we can't just walk up to someone ask them to try pulling these off. I'm not just worried if the spell may not have worked, but because the ribbons are special to me since they symbolize our friendship. I don't want anyone to ever pull these off unless it's us."

"Right. Nobody touch's these ribbons but us!"

Clear raised his foreleg with the ribbon up as he made his declare. Twilight raised her ribbon tied leg up too. A few more sparks of electricity came out for a second from the connecting legs. The next moment they put their legs down. Clear Fire faced the nearly set sun, while Twilight looked towards Clear's right ear, seeing some dirt in his mane.

"Clear Fire, why is there dirt in your mane?"

"Uh...!" Clear quickly brushed his mane to act like she was just seeing things. "Uh. What are you talking about? I have no idea what that means."

"Clear Fire..." Twilight leaned closer to Clear Fire, giving him a suspicious glare. "Are you sure you're not just lying to me? Just earlier you said you wouldn't lie to me. I passed by the park earlier while looking for my book, and I saw Phoenix Burst run by in a hurry as usual. You wouldn't have happened to-"

"What!? Of course it wasn't me! Why would you accuse your own friend of such a thing!? Or accuse me of being Phoenix Burst?! We look little to nothing alike!" Clear exclaimed in response. "I wouldn't blame you of something like looking identical to someone you obviously aren't if you were to have something stuck to you."

"I was just going to say if you were at the park. But why is there dirt in your mane, then? None of that could be in there unless you were messing around in a garden or tripped into some dirt."

"You're right about that, but come on. Do I have more anywhere on my body?" Clear got up, took his sweat shirt off, and posed for Twilight.

"No... I guess it wasn't you." Twilight sighed, and looked towards the sun.

It was halfway behind the mountain, and the sky was getting darker. Twilight Sparkle raised her head higher to look at the colors that the sky had changed to during the time. There were a few shades of orange, red, and yellow near where the sun was, while behind them the sky had more purple, violet, and blue.

"I'm gonna have to leave soon, Clear Fire. Let's do something together before we go." Twilight Sparkle suddenly announced.

"Hm? Already...?" Clear moaned as he finished putting his shirt on, and sat down. "How 'bout we read your book together. I want to know why you like it so much, since it is special to you and all. And you said it was from your favorite series or something."

"Really!? Okay! I've actually wanted to show it to you yesterday, but we didn't have much time because of all our talking and becoming friends." Twilight replied, beaming at Clear Fire.

"Well someone's finally gotten some spark back into their body." Clear thought as he watched Twilight bring her book back up.

"You are going to love this book. Have you heard of Starswirl the Breaded before?"

"No. I haven't."

"What?! He's, like, one of the greatest ponies ever! Princess Celestia comes pretty close, though." Twilight said, but than got sidetracked with a question she also wanted to ask. "Hey, Clear?"

"Yeah...?"

"If you live by yourself, how have you managed to live? Like, having a home, getting money to eat, and keeping out of trouble from the Royal Guards if they ever decided to mess with you?"

"We're going back to this?" Clear moaned annoyingly.

"I'm sorry, but it just crossed my mind and I really wanted to ask before I forget."

"Alright, but like I said before and I'll repeat myself only this once for you; no one makes things easy for an orphan, especially one who's on the streets. So you have to know how to maneuver yourself through dangerous situations, provide for yourself, and know how to defend yourself as I've said. If you can do all of that, you can live life your own way as much as you want. Break the rules and everything, too." Clear turned his gaze to the sky, and sighed. "However, even all those elements won't be given to you easily. When starting out I've had to suffer a few number of times just to manage myself for later on. It's real hard, Twilight. You really have to pay attention to everything, big and small. Pay attention to what others could be thinking next. You have to be one step beyond them at all times, but also know when to pull back when things get too rough."

"Oh..." Twilight looked down at her book, then back to Clear. "I only asked because... I felt worried for you. First you told me you didn't have a brother or sister, than it's not having any family. You told me yesterday that everyone had family and friends with them for company. For a little while, I felt that things were like that, too, until I met you. You're the only pony I've ever met who was completely alone. Not staying in an orphanage with other orphans or in a family of only your uncle and/or aunt. I had yet to meet others who were the same, but knowing that you don't have one makes me feel bad enough."

Clear switched his gaze back to Twilight Sparkle. He had a look of concern, seeing that she was headed towards sappy territory.

"But it's okay now. Because you have me. Even if you don't have a family, you do have a friend, and that will not change." Twilight grabbed one of Clear's talons, and pulled him a little closer.

"Um... Yeah..."Clear shifted his eyes, and grinned sheepishly. "So uh, how about we read that book of yours? And just to let you know ahead of time; I hate reading long books. It took me a year and a half just to memorize a dictionary. Never in my life have I been SO BORED."

"Wow. So you must know a lot of 'complacated' words then, right?"

"Pretty much. And it's 'complicated'."

"Whoops. Thanks for correcting me." Twilight let Clear go, sat up straight, and showed him the book. "I'll read the long chapters that we have time to go through. But If I make any more mistakes with words..."

"I know. I've got you covered."

Twilight began with explaining the book series to him and which book she was on. Clear Fire found most of it very confusing, but did his best to understand what she was telling him. He, neither as Clear Fire or Phoenix Burst, had ever taken something so seriously in their life besides stealing and that dictionary. For once he was doing something for the sake of another and it was hard to keep his grasp on it because it was so different from what he was used to.

They spent a lot of their time reading through the Starswirl the Bearded book. It was basically an adventure book, based around a few of the Unicorn's many journeys. Clear Fire grew more and more attached to Starswirl as he and Twilight Sparkle took turns reading it to each other, but Twilight had problems reading out loud because she had never read to someone else before. She usually had either her brother, mother, or father to read to her. These were some of the moments when Clear Fire would help her out or continue reading in her place. It was certainly one of the most fascinating things Clear had ever read, next to some of the magic books he stole as Phoenix Burst.

And oh how easy they were to steal. Made him laugh mentally.

Clear Fire, as time went on, grew a little more fond of Twilight Sparkle. She was becoming a great friend to him. This feeling of friendship in his heart. It was all so new to him, but it was one of the best things he's ever felt. He wondered to himself as they read if this was what he was missing from his life.

About an hour later it was time for Twilight to head home. They had stopped in the middle of chapter four where Starswirl was about to be ambushed by a small group of Timberwolves.

"Ah... That was amazing! I didn't think there would be such an awesome Unicorn out there!" Clear jumped up in excitement. "The way he took on those dragons all by himself with those magic beams, and made that giant shield for protection! And when he turned those three Diamond Dogs into a frog, a lizard, and a toaster! And that ending to chapter three... So. Awesome!"

"I know! Now you see why I like this book so much? It is just amazing." Twilight replied, holding the book up.

"Yeah, I do see it. But..." Clear wiggled the claws on his right talons near his chest, and blushed. "Twilight. This may be sudden and all, but ever since we started the second chapter of your book, this feeling came to me... It was so new to me, and it still is. While reading, the interaction we had felt so... Great. I don't like making anything sappy or weird, but I think you're a really great friend. I'm actually a little surprised that you don't have other friends."

"Thanks, Clear Fire. That's a really nice thing to say."

"Again, not nice, Twilight. I don't want to make this all sappy." Clear pouted again. "I just... Wanted to let you know that is all."

"Sorry."

Twilight got up and used her magic to lift her book off the ground. Judging from the color of the sky had became really dark since the sun had finally set, it was time for her to leave.

"I have to go home now. I'll see you tomorrow, Clear Fire, if you're around earlier."

"Right. See ya, Twilight Sparkle." Clear replied with a small wave.

Twilight took a few steps forward, then stopped. It felt like she was forgetting something, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"Clear Fire? I uh... Think you're an amazing friend, too. I've felt that since yesterday, but I wasn't sure how to say it. And I don't think I ever thanked you for saving my life even when we brought it up a few times. Is this okay to you?" Twilight asked.

"Sure. I don't mind it like that. And you don't have to say thanks. It was nothing special." Clear answered, crossing his talons over his head.

"Well I thought it was special. Bye now." Twilight ran back home having a wide smile on her face, and this time she had her book.

Clear Fire just nodded back, than looked back towards the land beyond. It was practically nighttime, meaning he had to go home too. He looked back one more to see if Twilight was gone. When he didn't see her in sight, his expression quickly changed from a smile to a frown as he changed back into Phoenix Burst, and took his cloak off. He threw it on the ground and grunted in anger.

"Agh! What is wrong with me!? Why am I saying nice things to that... Girl!? I'm a criminal, not some... Some... Goodie two-hooves!" Phoenix clinched some of his mane, and pulled it up.

Strange feelings? Twilight being a great friend? Honesty? It all seemed like crude humor on himself.

It felt so awful to say such words. So sappy that it felt like a virus had entered his body. But at the same time he didn't regret it. It only felt safe to say such nonsense as Clear Fire, but when he changes back to Phoenix Burst, the feelings he had felt as Clear would also carry on through him, yet he couldn't say it directly.

If Clear Fire and Phoenix Burst are the same pony, why was he referring to himself as two different beings? Did he not want to be Clear? Was this whole 'friendship' thing really that horrid? Was this really that negative to him? Or was there something in him that he wanted out, but didn't have a way of conveying it until now.

Phoenix groaned and rubbed his forehead under his horn. His head was melting from thinking about all this.

"Maybe some sleep will help. I'm digging way too deep about this in such short time!" Phoenix picked his cloak up, and trotted home. "Twilight Sparkle, I don't know what you are doing to me, but I don't like it, yet, at the same time, I find it one of the best experience's ever. I want to know more about this 'friendship' concept, and you might be the only one I know who can show it to me! But don't expect to get deep under my skin that easily!"

Overhead in the trees, where Phoenix Burst wouldn't see, Princess Celestia flew out as he entered the forest and landed in front of the road to the forest. She had a small smile on her muzzle directed towards him. She made a slight nod, and flew back to the castle.


	3. Prologue part 3

"Hello, everypony, and welcome back to some more The Filly and the Thief - Prologue! Um, I said I was going to stop doing this in the previous chapter, because I didn't have much to say. I'm going to tell you all now that after this story, before I work on the one after this, I'm going to do a story explaining everything about why Princess Celestia act's so strange, and why the captain hates Phoenix Burst so much." Battle awkwardly announced. "Anyway, without further ado, Let's get on with the SHOW!"

Disclam- You know what? Screw this! You all know the drill!

(One reader throws a book at Battle)

"Ow!"

"Give the disclaimer, moron!" That reader yelled from outside a window.

"(Sigh) Fine..." Battle pulled out the text box, showing the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to Hasbro, and Lauren Faust. I do own this story, and some of it's characters.

* * *

**_My Little Pony: The Magic of Two - Prologue part 3_**

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Today was another bright and sunny day in Canterlot. Unlike yesterday; Phoenix Burst woke up early, just like he wanted.

"Ah...!" Phoenix Burst sat up, and stretched. "Another day for me. I hope Twilight is up, because I'm going to our special place extra early."

Phoenix got out of bed, and ran to the bathroom to begin cleaning himself up for their day. He pulled out a towel from a drawer near the bathroom sink, and hung it between the door that lead into the shower. He then turned on the hot water, and got in the shower.

"100 bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer... Take one down, pass it around. 99 bottles of beer on the wall. From a hundred bottles of beer on the wall, I'm counting down. Passing bottles in this place, who knows that I'm around? A hundred bottles of beer on the wall. I'm passing around, my love leaves town. She don't care at all. I'm in this country bar in Marenessee. I'm clogging with my friends, and singing harmony." Phoenix Burst sang in the shower, while thinking about stealing, again. "_Mmm. Another day to steal... Wait._"

Phoenix had just remembered that he promised Twilight Sparkle he wouldn't steal any treats. Treats... Not anything else?

Phoenix Burst could steal anything else he wanted, except for stuff like cookies, cupcakes, and the likes.

"Hm. She should have been more specific about that promise." Phoenix snickered deviously, but somehow it hurt to steal anything when he made a promise. "Because of our promise, I'll steal something else, for the both of us. And I won't lie to Twilight Sparkle about it. I promised her the truth, too."

Phoenix, this time, put shampoo in his mane. He tussled with his big, spiky mane for a moment, before doing his tail. Upon reaching his tail, Phoenix Burst looked at his flank. It was blank, unlike other ponies in Canterlot. Almost everypony had one, except him and Twilight.

"I wonder what those strange butt tattoos are, and why does everypony have one." Phoenix said, getting out of the shower.

Phoenix Burst shook his entire body like a dog to dry off this time, getting everything in the bathroom wet.

"... Oops."

(Some time later - In town)

After dressing up in only a hoodie, and Denim jeans, purposely had a small breakfast, and set up an empty saddle bag; Phoenix Burst wandered around town, hiding himself from the public. There were even more guards patrolling Canterlot today, and he didn't think this was going to be the only day.

One guards walked up to him from a cloths shop, and scanned him from top to bottom.

Phoenix Burst had his tail covered, he was wearing a Brown wig to cover his head, in case the guard pulled down his hood, changed his eye color with one of those things (I don't know what those are called when you want to change your eye color), and dyed his fur to a Peach like color, almost matching human skin.

"Can I see you without the hood?" The guard asked, making sure it wasn't Phoenix Burst.

"Sure." Phoenix answered in a female voice, pulling down his hood.

The guard blushed, and turned away. He thought Phoenix Burst was such a cute filly, so he just nodded, and walked away.

"_I can't believe I just did that. I have to do better then that, next time. But she was so cute, though._" The guard thought, continuing his shift.

"_Rookie._" Phoenix whispered, putting the hood back on.

If Phoenix Burst wasn't able to steal MCC (Mint Chocolate Chip) anymore, then he'd have to resort to something else that's tasty. Something for him and Twilight Sparkle.

On the other side of the park P.B. was passing by; colts and fillies his age were getting checked by the Royal Guards with scanners. Near them was an unattended apple stand. Perfect place to start a fiasco, if Phoenix didn't say so himself.

"You morons are just setting these things up for me, huh?" Phoenix Burst ran over to the stand, took three apples, and hid in a bush to get near the ponies.

He used some magic to turn himself invisible, and crawl towards the next colt in line. He snuck past the guards, thankfully, and put one of the apples in that colt's saddle bag.

"This is mean, but so funny at the same time." Phoenix whispered, crawling away.

Sadly, he bumped into one of the guards. That one guard looked down, but saw nothing. Phoenix started crawling even slower, but the one thing he should have made sure of was his shadow.

"Who's there?" The guard asked, poking at the shadow.

He felt Phoenix Burst with his hoof, then signaled the others to come towards them.

"_Dam!_" Phoenix Burst got up and ran into the bush's, knocking down the guard he was under in the process.

"That way! Into that bush!" The guards yelled, getting back up.

They looked through the bush to see where Phoenix had gone. He crawled back into a tree, meaning trouble if he didn't find a way out. Instead of looking for an exit, he sat there.

"_Oh..._! I guess this is it for me. It's _all_ over...!" Phoenix said sarcastically, loud enough for the guards to hear.

"He's over by that tree!"

"We've got you now, punk!"

They tussled around at the tree, fighting over who caught the Unicorn. In the end, what they got wasn't even a pony.

They got a large stick.

"What the hay? I'm pretty sure we felt the body of a certain Unicorn right here!" One of the guards exclaimed, looking around for a shadow that wasn't their own.

"Yes! He was just here!" Another added, looking behind the tree.

On the other side of the park; Phoenix Burst was still standing in the same place, watching the foals leave. He felt like he did a good deed, without doing anything.

"Heh. Fooled everypony, there." Phoenix Burst walked away, heading over to the Secret Cliff.

He still needed something give to Twilight Sparkle. Phoenix headed back over to the apple stand, got in the tree above it and some of the guards, and acted like Spiderman, getting two apples, using a rope to climb down.

"He he he!"

After getting that over with, Phoenix Burst went straight towards the cliff. He'd have to stay in his disguise as he passed through town. He hid the apple in his jeans, making them uncomfortable, but a bit easier to hide.

Ponies all over turned their attention to Phoenix Burst like he was a new filly in town, but it wasn't that he was hiding his face that made them look.

It was the fact that it looked like he had really big crotch t**ts. Not as big as Milky Way's, though.

"_What the hay are they looking at?_" Phoenix asked in his mind, keeping his head low. "_The stallions look like perverts, while the mares seem uneasy. Do I make them this uncomfortable?_"

Phoenix Burst ran faster, trying to avoid eye contact with everypony. He didn't know why they were looking at him so funny, but he needed to hurry and see Twilight Sparkle.

Meanwhile; Twilight Sparkle was already there, waiting for Phoenix Burst to show up while reading the Starswirl the Bearded adventure book they read yesterday. She hoped Phoenix didn't get into trouble in town.

"He sure is taking his time, huh? I hope hasn't stolen any cupcakes, or anything for that matter." She looked back at the path that lead to Canterlot/Secret Hill. "Phoenix Burst, where are you?"

Just as she asked that, Phoenix Burst appeared from behind a tree.

"Right here for your information, Twilight. Sorry I'm late!" Phoenix ran over to her.

"Phoenix Burst!" She sat up, and greeted him. "Hi. I'm so happy to see you."

"Same here." Phoenix Burst sat in his spot next to Twilight.

"I like what you're wearing, Phoenix." Twilight giggled from Phoenix still looking like a filly, and also blushed because of the crotch t**s.

"Oh, I forgot about that!" Phoenix quickly changed back to his original self, but nearly forgot something. "Oh. I almost forgot about something."

A question mark popped above Twilight's head, showing her curiosity. Phoenix Burst pulled out two apples from his jeans.

"Got ya something."

"Really? You got me an apple?" Twilight took it from him, but didn't eat it. "Hmm..."

"What is it, Twilight? Is there a bug on it?" Phoenix asked.

"No, Phoenix. Did you steal this? And I want you to tell me the truth." Twilight turned to Phoenix, giving him a stern look.

"Um... Would I be lying if I said yes?" Phoenix nervously asked.

Twilight glare deepened, making her look like she got angrier.

"... Yes, I did." Phoenix came out with the truth, knowing Twilight might get angry.

"Oh, Phoenix Burst! I thought you promised you wouldn't steal! I can't believe you did that!"

"Wha!? Twilight, I promised I wouldn't steal any SWEETS. I didn't steal sweets, today, so I kept my promise." Phoenix Burst retorted. "You should have been more specific about that promise."

"Me?! You're the one who wants to change! This isn't the way to do it, Phoenix Burst! you know that!" Twilight sat the apple down between them, and turned away with her hooves folded.

"Well at least I was being honest to you. I also promised I wouldn't lie to you, so there you go."

"Yeah, but still. I can't believe you stole this. You're not going to get anypony's trust this way."

"I know, Twilight. Sigh... I shouldn't have done." Phoenix Burst knew the risk he was going to take, and was prepared for it, yet it still hurt to hear Twilight get angry. "Look, I stole that apple for you, and you only. I couldn't just come here without getting you something for helping me with my change. I know that what I did was bad, even though it wasn't breaking my promise, but I wanted to do something nice for you. I can't take the apple back, because the guards might already know it's gone."

"If you knew it was wrong, then why did you steal it? If you want to change, then you have to actually stop stealing for good." Twilight replied, still a bit angry, but calm enough to look at Phoenix Burst.

"Twilight, if I went out there, showed myself to everypony, and bought something; they'd have a field day. The only reason why I wasn't caught in public was because I was in disguise. Nopony would think a colt like me could change, but I want to prove them wrong." Phoenix carefully grabbed Twilight Sparkle's hooves, turning his body to face her. "Twilight, with no sarcasm, I promise you that from this moment forth; I won't steal another thing. For the sake of our friendship, and the trust of all of Equestria, I'm going to change. I want to be liked. I want to share feelings with others. For so long, I couldn't. I don't like being in public to act social, but with your help, I'm going to try and change that."

"How can _I_ be sure I can trust you, then? How will we seal our promise?" Twilight asked.

Phoenix Burst let go of one of Twilight's hooves to scratch his head. Twilight Sparkle used her freed hoof to scratch her head, too. Phoenix didn't have hooves, and Twilight didn't have talons. They needed a way to make sure the promise they make is permanent.

"Wait a second!" Twilight used her magic to levitate her saddle bag over to them, and brought out a Blue Ribbon. "We'll use these. As long as these stay tied on a certain part of our body, we'll know that our promise is kept."

"Great." Phoenix lifted his left leg towards Twilight. " I'd like mine on my right fore leg, near my shoulder."

"Alright..." Twilight began to tie the Blue Ribbon on Phoenix's shoulder, also examine a scar on his leg. "Hmm..."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Almost got it... There." Twilight finished tying the ribbon on Phoenix Burst. "Now since I tied yours on, you tie mine on."

"Okay. Where do you want it?" Phoenix Burst asked, taking some Blue ribbon.

"Um... Around my hoof." Twilight pointed to where she wanted it. "and I kinda want the Pink Ribbon, instead. I want a color that stands out through my fur."

Phoenix switched ribbons, and blushed as he took Twilight's hoof again, being careful to tie the ribbon just right. The first time he touched her hooves, he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing, as long as he was able to make his promise to her. This time he knew what he was doing, and it was kinda weird.

"Phoenix, what's the matter? You're getting redder then your own fur." Twilight said, giggling.

"I am not! Now hold still. I'm almost finished." Phoenix remarked, desperately trying not to think about this situation. "There. Finished."

"Okay, and now our promise is sealed." Twilight cheered with flowers and bubbles flouting around her.

It all faded when she thought of something they could do.

"But to make sure they don't burn off or anything, should we use magic on them?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm... Sure."

Phoenix Burst's horn began to glow, along with Twilight Sparkle's. They connected their horns together, letting the magic from them flout to their ribbons. After a few seconds, the ribbons became enchanted by the yearling's magic, and they disconnected their horns.

"We did it, Phoenix. Their sealed with our magic, so only we can take them off when we want to." Twilight explained.

"Yeah. I think I wasted a bit more magic then I thought I did."

"It sure is, Twilight." Phoenix glanced at the Blue Ribbon on his leg, then at the apple. "... So you gonna eat that?"

"Huh?" Twilight looked at the apple, and got angry again. "No, I'm not! That apple was stolen, and I won't eat something that was stolen!"

"Ah!" The yelled hurt Phoenix's ear, causing him to cover them. "Ugh. Alright. How about this; We go back into town, and pay for the apple."

"What? I don't think that's how things work, Phoenix Burst."

"I know, but we have to start somewhere. If I pay for the apple, then you'll eat it, right?" Phoenix Burst asked, hoping Twilight wouldn't get angry again.

"Well... Okay. As long as it's paid for, I'll take it." Twilight answered, standing up.

"Great." Phoenix Burst got up, too. "We'll go to town together, in case somepony try's to look at me with those weird eyes."

"Both of us? I don't want to get into any trouble, Phoenix Burst."

"Then if we get caught, I'll take full responsibility for us. Please, Twilight Sparkle." Phoenix Burst bit his bottom lip as he finished speaking.

Twilight sighed, and nodded, giving up on this conversation. She wasn't too sure about this, but she trusted him.

"Alright, then. Let's roll." Phoenix picked up his saddle bag, and pulled out a cloak. "I'm going to need this. I want to change my ways, but because we're just getting started, I can't be seen yet."

"True, but if you wear a cloak; everypony will suspect something."

"Hm. You have a point, there. I'll just keep the hoodie on, then." Phoenix put the cloak away, and pulled up his hood. "There, now let's roll!"

(Back in Canterlot - In the park)

At the park, there were many more ponies then before. In fact, way more guards there then most areas. That might have been because it was later in the day, and their on extra alert for Phoenix Burst. Fillies and colts were running around near the pond, mares were chatting, and stallions were throwing balls around (And no. That doesn't sound inappropriate).

Twilight Sparkle didn't get to see much of town, since she wasn't much of a social pony, either. It sure was great. Too bad she was getting to see all this with a thief.

"_So, Phoenix Burst. Where did you steal that apple from?_" Twilight whispered in Phoenix's direction.

"_On the other side of this park, at that stand right there._" Phoenix pointed at the stand he was talking about. "_Let's try to get there without being seen by those Royal Tards._"

"_Phoenix Burst, don't make fun of them. They protect all of Canterlot, and they have to work even harder because of you._"

"_Right..._"

They carefully made their past the guards, hiding in bush's, behind trees, and even under the pond. Finally Twilight Sparkle and Phoenix Burst made their way to the stand, and this time, it was attended.

"Hello. What can I do for the both of you?" The owner asked.

"_Phoenix Burst, pretend to somepony else._" Twilight whispered in Phoenix's ear.

"_Right._" Phoenix replied to Twilight, changing his voice to the female one, while pulling out an apple. "I found somepony with this apple, and didn't pay for it. I wanted to return it, and because it was taken; I also want to pay for it, just for good measures."

"Oh! How nice of you, little one. There's been theft's happening all over Canterlot, and it's because of that barbarian; Phoenix Burst. I hope he didn't show up today to steal my apples while I was gone!" The owner took the apple from Phoenix Burst.

Behind them, a Royal Guard spotted the two Unicorns, and went over to inspect them.

"Hi, there. I'd like to inspect both of you for a second." She said.

"We're kinda busy here, ma'am." Phoenix Burst remarked, giving the bits to the apple stand owner.

"Yeah. Just buying something." Twilight Sparkle added.

"Well this will only take a second." The guard put a hoof on Phoenix's shoulder.

"{O_h no!_} Please let me go."

"Just turn around for a second-" The guard yanked on P.B's cloak, revealing him to everypony. "It's you!"

"Dam it! We gotta go!" Phoenix got Twilight onto his back, and ran off.

"Wha!? Phoenix Burst!"

"GET HIM!"

"Phoenix Burst, what are you doing!?" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, holding Phoenix's neck tight.

"Just hold on, Twilight Sparkle! I'm going to get us out of here!" Phoenix replied, jumping high into the air to get the rooftops. "You don't want to get in trouble, do you?"

"No, I don't!"

"Then trust me on this! I won't let them Royal Toast Testers get their hooves on you!"

Five Royal Guards were on their tail, and closing in on them. Twilight was scared, but she felt safe with Phoenix Burst.

"... Okay. I trust you."

"Great!" Phoenix jumped off the roofs, and went into a cloths shop.

The guards followed them inside, finding themselves running into an old stallion. Two of the guards bumped into the old pony, while the other three flew around them. Phoenix Bust and Twilight Sparkle passed by the fillies and colts section of the store, and ran into a rack of cloths. They came out as Shaggy and Scooby Doo.

"(In Shaggy's voice) _Hello..._ I didn't know this was here, Scoob!" Phoenix Burst said, running all over the place to keep hidden.

"(In Scooby's voice) Might be a new trend." Twilight replied. "Now take a left. We might be able to make an exit there."

"Right, but let's get these cloths off first." Phoenix suggested, just before nearly running into one of the guards that bumped into that old pony. "Or let's go this way!"

"WHOA!" Twilight screamed from Phoenix stopping so suddenly, then turning.

They ran into the same rack, again, and came out as Natsu and Lucy from Fairy Tail.

"(In Natsu's voice) You know what, Twilight? I think I might come here more. This fits my style." Phoenix said, grinning in a mirror to the outfit.

"(In Lucy's voice) Yeah. These are pretty cool." Twilight nodded in agreement, then noticed the guards coming from behind. " Phoenix Burst, run! They're behind us!"

"Get 'em!"

Phoenix jumped in surprise, and zipped out of the store, taking off the outfit in the process. The cloths hit the guards faces, covering their view. The guards took a turn towards the left, opposite of where the yearlings went, and came out of the shop, only to be met with a crowd of ponies looking at them.

"Dam! We took a wrong turn!" One of the guards stomped the ground in frustration.

"No, wait! That way!" Another guard pointed to her right towards the duo, running through the crowd.

"There they are!"

"They've spotted us!" Twilight cried upon looking back.

"I've noticed, Twilight!" Phoenix Burst took a left turn, and threw two smoke bombs. "That might give us a few seconds! I have an idea!"

"I hope you know what you're doing, Phoenix Burst!"

"You HOPE I know what I'm doing? _Pa-lease_, Twilight Sparkle! If I didn't know what I was doing, then we would have been caught a long time ago!" Phoenix stopped in an alleyway, and sat Twilight down. "Okay, keep an eye out for me. This is going to take a few seconds."

"What!? Are you crazy! You can't make me do that, Phoenix!" Twilight was stopped by Phoenix's talons.

"Shh! Not too loud!" Phoenix whispered harshly, letting her go. "This will only take three seconds, Twilight. I'll even let you count to prove it, okay?"

"But Phoenix Burst-"

"You have to trust me, Twilight. I won't let anything happen to you, okay? I know what I'm doing."

"... Okay, Phoenix Burst. Just hurry up!" Twilight towards the end of the alley, counting down from three as she checked all directions. "Three... Two... One!"

"Finished!" Phoenix cried quietly. "Come on, Twilight!"

Twilight got back onto Phoenix Burst's back, and they took off, but not without leaving a late set off smoke bomb next to his trap.

Once five of the Royal Guards got there, they saw Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle standing in one place, not even moving an inch. It looked like they were looking for something on the ground.

"Guess they've given up!" They ran over to the two like morons, and fell for the trap.

The Unicorns that the guards saw were actually dummies, standing one foot away from a small pit for the guards to fall in. Thanks to the late set off of the bomb under the dummies, the smoke prevented the guards from seeing where they were going, meaning they didn't see the pit.

"AAAAHHH!" They screamed on the way down.

"Phoenix Burst, I hope they're not going to get hurt." Twilight worriedly said, looking back.

"They aren't, Twilight. That pit has been set up there for months. I just had to put the dummies in place, and it was all set. Those guards are going to fall into a net, so nopony's gonna get hurt." Phoenix Burst explained, running past an antique shop.

"Da fuak?" Surprisingly, a Stephano, sitting in a Mr Chair statue that was outside, said. "How did we get here? Mr Chair. Mr Chair, listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

"Sorry, Stephano! I don't know how we got into this world. I just hope Pewds is okay." Mr Chair replied. "I also hope Piggeh isn't here with us-"

"I'm pumped! I'm so freakin' pumped!" Piggeh yelled from inside the shop, swinging around on the window.

"Oh no...!" Mr Chair and Stephano cried in unison.

Just then, one of the guards that wasn't chasing after Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle came to the antique shop to see Stephano, Mr Chair, and Piggeh.

Must be a PewDiePony fan.

nyway, Phoenix Burst ran into a house of mirrors to hide in, passing by ponies that were coming out. Twilight Sparkle got off of Phoenix Burst so they could look at themselves in the mirrors. Twilight giggled by all the size's they became. On the first mirror, Twilight Sparkle was short, while Phoenix Burst was tall.

"Ugh! This is so unprofessional, but at least I'm taller." Phoenix grunted, walking towards the next set of mirrors.

"Aw. Don't you like this?" Twilight asked, giggling as Phoenix Burst pouted.

"Hm...! Let's just see the next set." Phoenix suggested, allowing Twilight to see herself first.

"I'm so thin!" Twilight squealed in delight.

In the second set, Twilight Sparkle was thin, while Phoenix Burst was fat.

"Gee. Does this answer your question about me having fun, Sparkle?" Phoenix asked, now uninterested in the mirrors.

"I guess it does, Phoenix."

"There they are, again!" A Royal Guard yelled on the other side of the mirror.

Both of the Unicorns ran behind another mirror, while the guards chose another. They appeared in different areas, running around the place like an old Scooby Doo episode. Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle were the first to make it out of there, running towards a library.

They went in, and hid in the adventure section. The guards ran past, seeing them reading books like nothing was happening. They went past two more isle's before heading back to where they saw the duo, only for that section to be empty.

"Where'd they go, now!?" One guard quietly yelled, looking all over the isle for the Unicorn's.

They appeared to be upstairs, running through the walkway towards an open window. The guards caught sight of them, and went after them from the bottom floor.

"Phoenix Burst, don't tell me we're about to jump out of that window!?" Twilight exclaimed, hugging Phoenix's neck with her eyes closed.

"Okay, then I won't!" Phoenix replied, jumping out the window. "Hold on a bit tighter, Twilight! We're almost there!"

"Okay!"

Outside, Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle were now at the National Park, where it looked like it was being decorated for the upcoming party on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration. There were streamers for Phoenix to swing across, which he decided to take. He carefully, but surely got the streamer, swinging their way towards the next. Two Pegasus Royal Guards flew out of the library, catching up to Phoenix Burst.

"Uh-oh!" Phoenix Burst used his body to help swing around the guards, did a 360 in midair, and land on the ground behind them. "This is really getting tiring, Twilight!"

"I know, Phoenix Burst! If only there was a way to block their path, long enough for us to escape!" Twilight implied, before realizing that there might have been a way to do that. "Why didn't I think of it? I think I have an idea, Phoenix Burst!"

"Oh, so now you want to take charge?" Phoenix asked, throwing more smoke bombs from his bag.

"Yes, but I need you to save those bombs for somewhere else we can us them!" Twilight answered. "Just keep running, Phoenix Burst! I think we're almost to where I want to set my distraction!"

"This had better work, Twilight!"

"I hope so, too! Head towards the train station!"

Phoenix Burst nodded, and ran to the train station as Twilight said. He was running out of breath, but he held on for Twilight Sparkle. He was not going to let her get hurt, or worse. There were about fifteen guards at the train station, waiting for somepony else to arrive.

"Phoenix Burst, when I give you the signal, turn to our right!" Twilight declared.

"Got it!"

Phoenix ran like a raging bull towards the guards. He was preparing to use magic when Twilight gave the signal. Everypony else was screaming and running around.

"Almost there...!"

"Hey, guys! Look!" The guard in the front said, preparing to attack. "It's the thief, and he has somepony with him!"

"They're coming towards us!? They must be crazy!" Another guard replied, getting ready to counter the duo.

"Twilight Sparkle...!"

"Now, Phoenix Burst!"

Twilight threw three tear gas bombs in front of them, and Phoenix used his magic to turn them around, since he was going so fast that he couldn't do it on his own. Inside the clouds of smoke; Phoenix Burst just ran straight ahead, awaiting Twilight's next step.

"What now?" He asked, ignoring the tears in his eyes.

"When we reach lane 3; go inside the building, and I'll leave a late setter bomb at the door! We can take the path to the left when we get out!" Twilight Sparkle explained. "You trust me with your bombs, right?"

"Pretty late to ask something like that, but yeah, I do! You're doing okay so far!"

"Thanks!"

Once they reached the door; Twilight threw the bomb on the ground. She somehow set it for 20 seconds, setting it slightly off from where she wanted it, which was 23. To their luck, the guards got through the tear gas sooner then they expected.

"So, Twilight! Which bomb did you use?" Phoenix Burst asked.

"... Itching powder." Twilight answered before the bomb set off. "They're going to need a long shower when they get home."

From inside one of the trains; The Captain of the Royal Guards came out after talking with a friend of his, and saw the mess that was made. He was not happy with his stallions one bit.

"Um... We can explain." One of the guards from the Canterlot National Park patrol group said, backing away from their steamed captain.

When the Unicorn duo got out of the building, there were even more guards waiting.

"There's more!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"I think I know a way past them, Twilight!" Phoenix yelled, setting his talons on fire. "Hang on!"

Phoenix slammed the ground with those very talons, giving him a boost to reach higher up in the air.

"Your talons..."

"Twilight, fix your position so I don't burn you!"

Twilight fixed her position on Phoenix's back, and put her front hooves a little lower towards his waist. Phoenix focused his body heat to his arms, and they turned into fiery wings.

"(Gasp) Whoa..." Twilight was amazed by the beautiful Red, Orange and Yellow mix that made Phoenix Burst's wings.

They were small, but Phoenix was able to make them fly. He lowered his head, and spit small fire balls at the Royal Guards. Intentionally, none of them hit the guards, but it left them distracted.

"That'll give us time to make our escape, Twilight. Hope my wings aren't hurting you." Phoenix told Twilight.

"They aren't, Phoenix." Twilight carefully wrapped her hooves around Phoenix's neck to actually hug him, while he flew them to the Secret Cliff.

The captain and the guards that were waiting for him came out of the train station building, and saw the bits of fire on the concrete ground. Nopony got hurt, and the guards that were attacked had already gotten the fire taken care of. The captain growled in angry once more.

"That little pest... I'll get you for this!"

(A little while later near sunset - At the Secret Hill)

Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle had just made it back there, laughing about their day. Twilight wasn't on his back anymore, giving him a bit of a rest.

"That was so much fun, Phoenix Burst! I had such a great time!" Twilight cheerfully screamed. "All that running around you did! All those place's we went to! Those traps we made!"

"Yeah! I loved those face those Royal Darts made! And I was actually able to fly with you on my back! I had some doubts about it, but I went through with it, and we flew." Phoenix replied sitting down near the edge of the cliff. "I can't believe the captain wasn't there, though! I would have loved to make him angry today during all of that!"

"Mm-Hmm. But we can't keep doing this, Phoenix Burst. I loved doing all of that with you, I really did, but we're really going to cause something horrible to happen if this continues." Twilight sat next to Phoenix, and glanced to their ribbons. "We promised each other that this would come to an end. No more of this life style."

"I know, Twilight. I'm really going to miss doing this, but I have to let it go if I want to be liked by others. If I want to redeem myself for the last four years, I have to start acting like I want to turn over a new leaf." Phoenix glanced at his ribbon. "With this, we will definitely make this work, no matter what."

"Right." Twilight pulled out her Starswirl the Bearded book, and began reading it to herself.

Phoenix Burst looked over to her, from mane to tail. She was sweating from all that running round, even though he was doing most of it. Phoenix thought back to the place's they went to, and how much fun they had doing cosplay, comparing body size's with mirrors, and making traps and diversions to get away from the Royal Guards. He didn't know that Twilight was now looking at him.

"Why are you staring at me?" She asked.

"Hm?" Phoenix Burst woke up from his daze, and looked Twilight in the eyes.

Those beautiful Violet eye of hers.

"I was just thinking about the day we had. That was the first time we really hung out outside of just talking to each other, even if our lives were in danger. All that running around for a stolen, then paid apple." Phoenix answered, looking back at the apple that caused all that drama. "I've never had such a good time like that before. The experience was awesome."

"Yeah..." Twilight took the apple into her hooves, and stared at it. "I almost still can't believe you went through all that trouble... For me."

"That's what friends are for, right? I may not know much about friends, but I do know that they will go through any risks for other. I got that right, didn't I?"

"Yep. You did, and thank you again." Twilight was about to take a bite out of the apple, but decided not to.

She looked at Phoenix Burst. He wasn't looking back this time. Twilight closed her eyes, and slowly leaned in towards Phoenix Burst's cheek for a kiss. He turned to her upon noticing her move, and flinched.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Twilight, what are you doing!?" Phoenix scooted back, waving his talons frantically.

"What's the matter? I was just-"

"I'm not into kiss's, Twilight! I'm just not that kind of pony!" Phoenix Burst's fur became redder as he spoke.

"I... I'm sorry. I Just wanted to give you a kiss, since you were so nice and all..." Twilight blushed, twiddling her hooves.

"Twilight Sparkle... I... I mean, I like you, but I don't like kissing, and hugging, and nice things! I mean, uh...! What I'm trying to say is...!"

"You're shy, aren't you?" Twilight got up and trotted towards Phoenix. "You don't need to be embarrassed. If you didn't want a kiss, then just say so."

Phoenix nodded rapidly, and calmed down, just before getting a kiss on the cheek.

"Got ya!"

"Aw...!"

Twilight trotted back to her book, sat down, and read through it with a smile. With her magic, she took the apple, and finally started eating it. She glanced back at Phoenix Burst, seeing as he was still sitting on the ground, staring into space with his horrified eyes.

"Phoenix Burst, it was only a kiss. Stop being so dramatic and come read with me!" Twilight yelled for him to hear.

"My body... I can't feel my talons, or tail..."

"Oh, Phoenix..." Twilight laughed as she pulled Phoenix Burst over to her by his tail.

After a moment of recovering, Twilight and Phoenix continued reading from where they left off. Phoenix Burst had so many jokes to make on every page, because he found it so easy and hilarious that it couldn't be held. Twilight laughed to most of the jokes, while others were a bit mean.

"So hey, Phoenix?"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you get that other apple?" Twilight asked, but already knew the answered by the way Phoenix's face changed.

"Um... I stole it, too, with yours." He answered.

"Phoenix...!"

"I know, I know. But how else was supposed to return one, and pay for the other?"

"Wait. You had that planned from the start?"

"... Sort of. The apple I gave back was supposed to be mine. I guess what's done is done, though." Phoenix scratched his head, and chuckled.

"Aw... I'm sorry. Maybe I should get you something in return for everything you've done for me."

"No need, Twilight. I'll be okay. This is more about me giving to Canterlot then the other way around. It's about time I started giving back what I owe."

"I think with an attitude like that, you can do it, Phoenix Burst. We will make this work if you keep thinking like that."

"I won't be able to do it without you, Twilight Sparkle." Phoenix Burst sat up, and stretched. "You really have a way with helping others, and I like that. I think it's a talent that you've never thought that you had, unless you did think you were good at helping others, and I just made myself look stupid."

"Thank you, but I don't think I'll get a Cutie Mark on it. And no, you didn't make yourself look stupid." Twilight got up, too, but upon saying Cutie Mark, Phoenix's ears perked up.

"What's that?" He asked.

"What's what?"

"A... Cutie Mark."

"You don't know what a Cutie Mark is?" She looked at his flank, seeing that he didn't have a Cutie Mark of his own. "Oh... I see."

"What?"

"A Cutie Mark is what your special talent is, like you said. You get it when you have discovered what your true talent is." Twilight explained, looking at her flank. "We don't have ours, yet. Maybe someday, but not now."

"Yeah. Cutie Marks sound interesting, but I'm not sure about the name. It kinda makes it sound... Cute."

"What's wrong with that?"

"I don't like cute. Well, you're an exception, Twilight."

"(Gasp) You think I'm cute?" Twilight was taken back by those words, for the right and wrong reasons.

"Truly. You're cute, but I'm referring to the kind of cute that's a part of me. I don't being called cute." Phoenix folded his talons, and snarled. "I'm a guy. Come on."

"True. It's not that common for guys to be called cute, not that there's anything wrong with it."

"I don't see anything right with it, either." Phoenix grinned, leaning towards Twilight with his eyes closed.

Twilight began to blush like Phoenix Burst did earlier. She didn't expect him to be coming towards her, after what happened not too long ago. She closed her eyes, and leaned in to him, until...

"Twilight Sparkle, time to come home for dinner!" Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, called for her.

Phoenix Burst's eyes shot open, and he saw just what was about to happen. He put a talon on his face, and pulled himself back.

"_Nope! Nope, can't do it!_" Phoenix yelled in his mind, shaking his head dramatically. "It sounds like you have to go home."

"Yeah, and just when we were about to continue the last few chapters of our book...!" Twilight got up, but pouted. "I'll see you again tomorrow, Phoenix Burst."

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow, too, then." Phoenix got Twilight her book, and began walking away. "See ya."

"... Bye..."

Twilight Sparkle watched Phoenix Burst leave this time. He glanced back at her several times to see if she was heading home. She didn't move an inch as Phoenix Burst disappeared into the forest. Once she was sure he was gone, she looked at her ribbon one more time, before going home.

"_Could I really get a Cutie Mark for helping others change their lives for the better? I haven't gotten it yet, but eventually, I will, and Phoenix Burst might get his soon, too. I think for his first day, he did well._" Twilight thought, heading down the path back to Canterlot.

* * *

"And that's the end of this part! Only six more to go, everypony! It took a long time, trying to work on this because of my family getting on my nerves, and trying to stay awake due to my lack of sleep. Like I mentioned before the part started; there will an explanation story about Princess Celestia, The Captain of the Royal Farts- I mean Guards, and Phoenix Burst. Tell me in PM's or Reviews if there are any errors I need to correct. Now, I worked very long and hard on this chapter, and now it's time for me to hit the hay. And now, Thanks and _BYE!_" Battle said closing the part for the night.


	4. Prologue part 4

"Hello everypony, and welcome back to The Filly and the Thief! Sorry that I was gone for _so long_. I've been waiting, and waiting to use the computer my family shares (For now) so I could continue this, then I started playing the MLP Gameloft App on a new laptop for a large amount of time. Now that I'm back, I'll try to update as soon as I can, as long as the MLP game doesn't hold me up. Now after this, I've kinda have to get back to Cupid and Zei: Adventures in Equestria for a short amount of time, too. I won't take too long, and please don't pull up any pitchforks (Sees a mob of readers outside the Studio) to kill me. I'm doing my best with both of these stories. Anyway, I also want to recommend an anime called Black Lagoon. It is one of the most bad ass anime I've ever seen, but I wouldn't have began to watch it if it weren't for Pia-Sama's Rouge Diamond story. Check it out, the pacing in it is better then the show, but I wouldn't be watching it if it weren't for The Rouge Diamond. And now, Let's get on with the SHOW!" Battle announced, closing the window and curtains, to block the angry readers.

"Open that window, Battle, and face us like an author!" They yelled, throwing javelins at the window. "Wait! I meant to say "man"!"

"Ah!" Battle opened them, and stuck his head out. "You'll have to come in here, and get me! I'm trying to start this Part/Chapter for all of you! And where did you all get javelins!?"

(All the readers looked at each other, then at the front door into the studio. They busted the door down, coming in to attack Battle.)

"Oh no!" Battle hid under the table, with the mic in his hand. "Again, Let's get on with the show."

Disclaimers: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro. I own this story, and some of it's characters.

Note: I want to give another speech about something bad I learned recently after this part.

* * *

**_My Little Pony: The Magic of Two - Prologue part 4  
_**

* * *

The next day since the unnecessary panic in Canterlot, there have been news about the, Quote-on-quote, "Theft" all over the Canter Times, a News company in Canterlot. Everypony was getting it to see the news about Phoenix Burst, and his possible new "Side Kick". Even Twilight Sparkle's family got in on the news.

Twilight Sparkle was in her room, getting ready to see Phoenix Burst for their second day of changing his life, and getting all of Canterlot to trust him, when she wanted to make him something in return for all the trouble they were put through yesterday, and for the apple he bought her.

"I wonder what he would like. I'm not good at art. I could buy him something, but I don't have the bits to get him anything. I'm saving up for something Shining Armor would like. I want to get something for both of them, but I don't have the bits for them. This is kinda difficult." Twilight thought long and hard, pacing around her room.

Because of her; Phoenix Burst was into Starswirl the Bearded. She needed to save her bits for something she wanted to buy for Shining Armor, which she was still thinking about, too. She also didn't have much things with Starswirl, so maybe with the help her mother, they could make him something.

Twilight Sparkle had nodded her head, deciding on what she should do for Phoenix Burst. She went to the door to leave her room when...

"Twilight Sparkle, come down here, please!" Her father, Crescent, called from downstairs.

"Okay, daddy! I'm coming!" She replied, rushing down from her room.

Downstairs, Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet, and Crescent, were waiting for Twilight Sparkle to arrive in their living room. Crescent was holding the news paper in one hoof, Shining Armor was looking down the hallway where Twilight Sparkle would be coming through, and Twilight Velvet was facing a bookshelf.

Twilight Sparkle finally came in, hopping towards her brother.

"Good morning, everypony. What do you need to see me about?" She asked.

Crescent didn't know where to start. Twilight Sparkle looked so innocent, but to make the news for helping a criminal escape the hooves of the Royal Guards made it hard to trust that innocent look. Crescent looked at Twilight Velvet.

She had been keeping something from everypony. She had been like this for six years, since the... Incident. Crescent didn't question it, but it did concern him greatly.

"Daddy? Mommy? Shining? What's wrong?" Twilight Sparkle asked, seeing that none of the said ponies looked happy.

"Sis..." Shining was about to speak, but he was cut off by his father.

"Twilight, have you been... Seeing anypony lately?" Crescent asked.

"Yes, I have, but he doesn't want anypony to-"

"Twilight Sparkle, could the pony you're seeing be Phoenix Burst by any chance?"

Twilight Sparkle was taken back by this. She was worried that she might get in trouble with her family if she told them about Phoenix Burst, but she couldn't just hide him, either.

"Why do you want to know, daddy?" Twilight Sparkle asked, growing nervous.

"Because you and him made the front cover of the Canter Times. You guys were caught on camera at the Canterlot National Park, swinging on the streamers, while getting away from the Royal Guards." Crescent explained, showing Twilight Sparkle the paper.

"Oh no..." Twilight Sparkle took a step back, with tears welling up in her eyes. "That is us, but we weren't stealing. We were-"

"I don't care if you were stealing or not, Twilight Sparkle! I don't want you near that criminal again, do you understand?" Crescent asked strictly.

"What?! I can't just do that to him! I'm his only friend! He's trying to change his ways for the sake of our friendship!" Twilight was on the urge to cry any second.

"This paper doesn't say he is! He is only trouble, and I don't want you with him anymore! He's too dangerous!"

"Crescent-" Twilight Velvet finally stopped looking at the bookshelf, now trying to help everypony in the matter.

"I can't do that to him! He needs my help! He's my only friend, besides big brother!" Twilight Sparkle cried, lowering her ears.

"Little sister, Phoenix Burst is not somepony you should be hanging around with. He's the kind of pony that could get you into big trouble, or even hurt you if you let him." Shining Armor was also on the verge of tears.

"No! He wouldn't do that to me! We made a promise to each other! He is completely honest, and I know he would never hurt me! Because of our promises, I'm going to help him change!"

"Well Phoenix Burst is going to have to find somepony else to help him, because you're friendship is over!" Crescent yelled at his daughter, squeezing the news paper in his hoof.

Twilight Sparkle was only seconds from crying. She could only look at her family, seeing Shining Armor was looking away from her, and their parents were also keeping contact away from her. Twilight Sparkle couldn't stay in there any longer, so she ran outside.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Velvet called out, but her daughter didn't come back.

Twilight Sparkle cried her eyes out, running through Canterlot to reach the Secret Cliff. Everypony that she passed by watched her cry, but didn't call the Royal Guards in suspicion of Twilight being a side kick.

That, and Royal Guards were already all over the city, patrolling.

Twilight Sparkle finally stopped her sobbing at the entrance of the forest, leading to the Secret Cliff. She went in, keeping her mind set on telling Phoenix Burst the bad news, no matter how hard it was for her to do so.

"Understatement of the decade." Twilight replied to the Author.

Hey, hold on a minute! I thought this breaking forth wall joke was only used in... Nevermind.

At the end of the path, sitting at the edge of the cliff was Phoenix Burst, waiting patiently for Twilight to arrive. He was whistling Serah's Theme while waggling his tail. Twilight cleared her throat so it didn't sound so harsh from all the crying. It lead to her coughing madly, while Phoenix Burst kept whistling like he didn't hear anything.

"You're here early, Phoenix." Twilight said when she finally had her voice in check, wiping the tears off her muzzle.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Phoenix got up, and ran to her side. "I've been waiting for you."

"Hi Phoenix Burst. I-"

"I got here early for our second attempt at trying to convince Canterlot that I've changed. I feel really pumped, and ready to go." Phoenix Burst unintentionally interrupted Twilight Sparkle.

"Yes, I can see that, Phoenix Burst, but I-"

"I was thinking about buying you something before coming here. I didn't really know what, though, and-"

"Phoenix Burst, we can't be friends anymore!" Twilight snapped at him.

Phoenix Burst froze like an ice burg, unable to move, or think, or react to what Twilight had just said. No, literally. He turned into an Ice burg after hearing that.

"C... Can't be friends...? Why...?" He asked when he thawed out, being the only thing he could do at the moment.

"Because everypony in town found out about us, even my family! They don't want me near you, ever again! I tried convincing them that we weren't stealing, and that you were paying for what you stole, but they wouldn't listen!"

"... T-That fast? Dam...! Well we don't have to listen to them. We could go to your place, and show your family that-"

"I can't go against my family, Phoenix Burst! You got me into enough trouble as it is! We can't be friends, okay!?" Twilight screamed at him, laying her head in his chest.

Phoenix Burst was more chest fallen then Twilight was. He was now in tears, too.

His only chance to prove he wants to be good. His only friend. Gone.

"... Okay... I understand..." Phoenix replied, fighting the urge to cry.

"Phoenix Burst, are you about t cry...?"

"... No. I'm not, Twilight. I'm... Too strong for that." Phoenix gently pushed Twilight away from him, and hit his chest. "See? Too strong for tears. Crying is for those who don't have any other options. I don't have options, but I still won't cry, no matter what."

Twilight Sparkle admired the way Phoenix seemed so strong. It hurt her greatly to lose him, and they hadn't even been friends for that long. Knowing somepony for a short amount of time shouldn't have been bringing her to tears, but this was her only friend, and she was going to lose him.

"Will you be okay... Without me?" Twilight asked, biting her lower lip to keep from crying again.

"Y-Yeah. I'm Phoenix Burst; Young... Retired master criminal of Canterlot. Nopony is gonna stop me from doing the things I do best, even if what I do best is what I've retired from." Phoenix Burst acted tough for Twilight, but in truth, he was doing it for himself to make sure he didn't look emotional in front of her.

"You won't cause trouble while I'm gone?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. I'm gonna behave like a good colt while your gone, and this ribbon is going to make sure of that." Phoenix raised his right fore leg, showing Twilight the ribbon they tied on each other.

"Okay..." Twilight looked at hers, too.

Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle held their gaze on the ribbons for a while. They felt their hearts shattering to millions of piece's. The only thing that was going to remain connected to them was those ribbons. It was the only thing that was going to keep them from forgetting each other.

Twilight was the first to put her hoof down, and turn towards the path back to Canterlot.

"I'll... I'll be missing you, Phoenix Burst. I won't forget what we've done together." She said, using her mane to hide the tears streaming down her face.

"... I won't forget you, either, Twilight Sparkle. It was great being with you." Phoenix also turned away, having tears stream down his face, too. "Our time was short, but it will last in my heart forever. It would hard to ever let you go, and it were to happen, it'd be over my dead body."

"Really?"

"... Yes, but that whole "Being in my heart forever" thing? That was way out of character, and so stupid. I'll miss you, but something like that won't fly with me."

That sounded like him all right, and that might have been the last thing Twilight would ever hear from him. Twilight held her mouth with a hoof, keeping her sobbing to herself. She couldn't allow Phoenix Burst to see her like this again.

"... I'm so sorry...!" Twilight cried, before running back to Canterlot.

Twilight didn't look back at Phoenix, letting that be the last time she'd ever look at him. Phoenix Burst made no reply as he sat down. He looked at the ground, fighting his urge to cry, again. He leaned his head down, and took a bite of the grass, to keep the sounds of him sobbing to a minimum.

(Five days later - In Canterlot)

It had been five days since Phoenix Burst and Twilight Sparkle split up, permanently. For those five days, Phoenix Burst hadn't made any effort to show that he'd changed. Twilight Sparkle spent her time reading, and "Playing" with her brother and new foalsitter, Cadence.

Shining Armor knew Cadence for a little while, and he thought that since Twilight Sparkle wasn't being interactive with other ponies, including him, Cadence was hired by Twilight Velvet and Crescent to be her foalsitter. She didn't know anything about the whole Phoenix Burst situation, but that didn't stop her from cheering up her new friend.

Sparkle hadn't said much to anypony since she got back home, after having to be the one to break her friend's heart. She cried in her room while she read her Starswirl the Bearded book that her and Phoenix shared. She never accepted the comfort of her family that she needed, or interacted much with Cadence. She just couldn't deal with it like she promised Phoenix Burst.

Cadence, knowing Twilight Sparkle wasn't going to say much to her, went to her room to try and talk.

"Twilight Sparkle...?" Cadence saw Sparkle on the bed, reading quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"... Okay." Twilight replied, putting her book down on her pillow, but didn't look at Cadence.

"Me and your brother have been talking, and we wanted to know if you wanted to come help us with the party decorating in the Canterlot National Park."

"I thought the celebration was going to be held next weekend."

"It is, but everypony has volunteered to help with the decorating early. So you want to come?"

Twilight remained quiet, staring at her book. Her cheeks had dry tears, meaning she might have been sobbing earlier without anypony noticing.

"... Okay then. I'll just... Let you read in piece."

Cadence was about to leave the room, even though she didn't get an answer, when Twilight Sparkle decided to speak.

"I'll come." She said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I... I've been sitting here for a while, and I just want to get out now."

"Okay. Let's get Shining Armor, and we can go."

Twilight got out of bed, and headed out the door with Cadence. Downstairs, Shining was pacing around the living room, waiting for the girls.

"Shining Armor, we're ready!" Cadence yelled from the top of the staircase.

"We? So it's just you and me-" Shining silenced himself upon seeing his sister. "Oh! Twily! You're coming with us?"

Twilight only nodded, and walked down the stairs to stand next her brother. Shining wrapped a fore leg around his sister's neck, and brought her close to comfort her. Twilight wiggled out of Shining's grip, and went to the front door.

"Shining Armor, why is she like that?" Cadence asked.

"I... Don't know. We had a little talk with her five days ago, and she ran off. She came back an hour later, sobbing so much. Our mom and dad couldn't calm her down that night, but I managed, somehow. She repeated the words "I hurt him", but that was only when I was with her, not our parents." Shining Armor explained with most of the truth.

Shining Armor couldn't tell Cadence about Twilight Sparkle's relationship with the thief. She wouldn't take it too well, as far as Shining knew.

"Who is "he"?"

"... I don't know. Twilight wouldn't tell me." Shining raised a hoof for Cadence to hold as they head over to Canterlot National Park. "Let's get a move on, shall we?"

"Why Shining Armor..."

Cadence wrapped a fore leg around Shining's, and they went to join Twilight Sparkle.

Meanwhile on Phoenix's side, he was still heartbroken about losing her. He blamed himself for losing her, because it was his fault she got in trouble to begin with.

Phoenix Burst hadn't gone outside at all. He didn't eat anything, but drank water sometimes. He took showers daily, and washed his outfits and disguise's, even when they were already clean.

Guess he just needed something to do.

He thought about everything Twilight said that day, and how much it hurt him.

"_Phoenix Burst, we can't be friends anymore!_" He remembered her yelling at him. "_Because everypony in town figured us out, even my family! They don't want me near you, ever again! I tried convincing them that you want to change, but they wouldn't listen!_"

Those words made Phoenix Burst feel sad, but at the same time... Angry. He wasn't mad at Twilight Sparkle. He could only understand that she was only trying to protect him, while obeying her family, but it still made him burn with anger.

No. The pony he was angry at was himself. He wasn't going to stick a blame flag on his hind quarters, not at all, but he couldn't excuse the fact that his actions lead them to this.

"_I can't believe this. I let this happen. I should have known that bring her along was going to cause this. I knew the risks, and I went through with it like I had it all under control. Now look where I stand._" Phoenix Burst looked down towards his talons, scratching the floor of his bedroom. "_I should have known better. I should have kept Twilight at the Secret Cliff. I should have listened to the Royal Fart- No, wait. If I did that, we would have still been caught. The only thing that would have kept things from turning out this way is keeping Twilight away from town while I paid for the apple. I could have done that, but I didn't, and now I've lost her!_"

Phoenix Burst picked up his toothbrush, and threw it across his room towards the bathroom. It landed in his toilet.

"Eww! I shouldn't have done that." Phoenix said, finally getting up after all of his mopping to get his dirty brush. "_Twilight Sparkle... We haven't even been friends for that long, and I miss you already. For so long, I thought friendship and family was overrated, and contrived. I didn't like it, but I didn't know why, and I didn't want to know why. For so long, I was alone on the streets, doing things my way, but running away altogether. I thought that... One day, if anypony would ever give me a chance, I would do anything to change my ways. I didn't know where to start, and I didn't want to start on my own. I wanted friends... I wanted to be loved... I wanted to share with somepony... Twilight Sparkle, when I met you, I thought if I made a different approach, and some things that would be considered "Friendly", you'd be my friend. After the first day that we met, I did everything in me to keep us friends... Then I had to slip up by getting you in trouble!_"

Phoenix smashed his talons on a wall, cracking it, and hurting his knuckle. He didn't care about the pain, as long as he felt something other then his pain of losing Twilight Sparkle.

"Why do I have these feelings...? Why do I feel this way...? I don't know much about you, but you've made such a big impact on me. Twilight Sparkle... How can I ever forgive myself...?" Phoenix dropped his toothbrush in the sink, and left the bathroom.

(Meanwhile - At the Canterlot National Park)

Shining Armor, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle had finally made it to the park, ready to help everypony with the party that was going to be held in several weeks. Twilight remained silent throughout the walk there, and had her head leaning on Shining. She didn't cry, or speak, or look at either of the older ponies.

Cadence and Shining were very worried about her, but they knew Twilight wasn't going to respond to much of the things they say.

"Twilight, we're here." Shining said, looking at his sister.

"I can see that." Twilight got off of Shining, and walked forward to see if she could help anypony. "I'm going to see if anypony needs any help."

"... Well, I might need help, Twilight." Cadence implied, rushing in front of Twilight Sparkle. "You can... Help me with the party games. Everypony needs something to do during the party."

"Okay."

Twilight was lighting up, but she still sounded kinda hurt. Maybe all she needed was some time out of her room.

Shining Armor went to help out a Orange furred Unicorn filly with Red and Yellow mane and tail. Her eyes were sort of a Light Teal, and her cutie mark was that of a shimmering sun.

Shining Armor would peek on Twilight and Cadence every so often, to see if his sister was doing okay.

"Hey Twilight, look what I made." Cadence showed said filly her ornament.

It was the sun, with two ladybugs doing a little shake.

"What is it supposed to be, Cadence?" Twilight asked.

"It's a little something I used to think about during my times of feeling sad. It calms me down whenever I need it. It's a little something that goes like this; Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadence put her ornament down, and danced around while singing her chant. "Come on, Twilight! Join in!"

Twilight stared at Cadence like she was crazy, but she had to admit that what she was doing looked fun. Cadence repeated it over and over, until she was finally able to get Twilight Sparkle to try it.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake! Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake! Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadence repeated tiredly, even though most of the ponies in the park were watching her now. "_Come on, Twilight...!_"

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." Twilight began to do it, too, and she was actually having fun doing it. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

"Now you're getting it!"

Cadence and Twilight chanted together in perfect sync. Cadence was getting a bit tired of dancing, while Twilight was full of energy. Twilight jumped in the air, onto the table of ornaments during her third time doing the chant, breaking nearly all of the ornaments.

"Twilight Sparkle, are you okay?" Cadence asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I'm okay." Twilight swatted a few broken piece's of party balloons and confetti out of her mane, and got up, thanks to the help of Cadence. "That was so much fun! I wanna do it again sometime, but not now! I think we need to clean this up first."

"Yeah. We do."

"Hey! You're that filly who was with the thief!" A random stallion yelled from behind.

"Wha?"

"Oh yeah! It's her!"

"What does a little filly like you think she's doing here? Where is your new friend?"

"Speaking of that thief and his side kick; where is he, anyway!?"

"Hey, hey, hold on a minute!" Shining Armor ran in from the crowd. "My sister is not a thief, and she is not the actual thief's side kick!"

"Out of the way, brat! Nopony is talking to you!"

"I don't care! That's my sister you all are picking on, and I'll have you know that if it wasn't for her, Phoenix Burst would still be running around, stealing from us!?" Shining implied.

"True, but he could show up anytime to cause trouble like he usually does!"

"**That's because you don't know him like I do!**" Twilight screamed before running away, sobbing again.

"Twily!"

"I'll go after her, Shining!" Cadence run after Twilight to calm her down.

Twilight used magic to teleport herself somewhere so she could be in peace. Cadence looked all over town, only running into dead ends and ponies staring at her when she shot the door to someplace open. There was only one place she hadn't looked yet, but it was forbidden by order of Princess Celestia herself.

The cliff where that house burned down.

"That's the only place where I haven't looked yet."

Cadence knew that what she was doing was going to get her in trouble with the princess, but she was willing to risk it for Twilight Sparkle. She hurried through the forest, seeing that had small hoofprints that matched the size of Twilight's. It had to be her, it just had to.

At the other end of the forest, Twilight was sitting near the edge of the cliff, sobbing like when she ran off.

"Twilight Sparkle, I found you!"

"Cadence!? N-no! Don't come near me! I don't want anypony here with me right now." Twilight lowered her head onto the soft grass, and put her hooves over it.

"Twilight, I'm only here to help you, okay?" Cadence walked forward, and sat next to Twilight.

Cadence stared at Twilight Sparkle, thinking about how to begin what she had to tell her. It became clear that Shining Armor was hiding the truth about what had happen, but she already knew.

"... So he was your friend, huh?"

"Huh?"

"I said Phoenix Burst is your friend, right?"

"... He "was"." Twilight raised her head, then laid it back down when she folded her hooves to where she could rest her chin on them. "My family told me that we couldn't be friends anymore because he was a criminal."

"I know."

"That day, before the day I had that talk with my parents, Phoenix Burst was trying to pay for an apple he stole, with me watching him closely. He wasn't trying to cause trouble like everypony expected him to."

"I know."

"He wanted to change his ways for our friendship, so we tied ribbons on each other, and sealed it with magic, so only we could take them off. Nothing could burn, tear, or pull these off, besides us."

"I know."

"He swore it to me that- wait. How do you know this?"

"I don't. I was just teasing you." Cadence was the only one laughing from that, which made her stop. "But I wasn't joking about knowing why you were hurting so much. I kinda figured it had to do with what your brother explained to me about your talk with your parents. I saw the news paper, and I knew that somehow it was related to why you wouldn't stop crying so much."

"Oh... Are you going to take me back to my family?" Twilight asked.

"Nope. Not unless you want to head back." Cadence rubbed Twilight's back smoothly. "I just to help you feel better, Twilight. Me, your brother, your parents. We're worried about you, Twilight. They only did what had to be done, because if you two had been friends any longer, something bad was going to happen to both of you. You could have been thrown into a dungeon, or worse. Your parents didn't want that, but they might have also felt bad for making you two not be friends anymore, too. Did Phoenix Burst really make you happy?"

"He was one of the most funniest, coolest, and cleverest ponies I've ever met. That day when he was trying to pay for what he stole, he let me ride on his back all over Canterlot, and he told me that he wasn't going to let anything happen to me. We ran around many different places I haven't been too before, and set traps to give us time to get away from everypony, and swung on a streamer. But even with all of Phoenix Burst's strength, he was going to run out of breath, so I had to help him out. My plan worked for us, but when we thought that we had gotten away from trouble, even more guards came to take us, and for the first time since I met Phoenix Burst... He flew." Twilight explained with a small blush, and flowers flouted around her. "It was one of the most amazing things I've ever felt, being in the air like that. He told me he had the power to control fire at will, and since that moment... I believed him."

"So is he like your prince charming?" Cadence asked with a slight giggle.

"No! He's not like that. He doesn't like stuff that's cute, or nice, or charming. I just think of it as him being shy."

"Okay, since you know so much about him; how long have you been friends?"

"... Only about three days."

"That's a pretty short amount of time. Usually when somepony befriends another for only about three days or less, they forget about each other. But somehow I think that's different in your case, and who knows? You might see him again. He might remember you, and want to be your friend again."

"Maybe. Thanks, Cadence." Twilight said, laying her head on Cadence. "Could you... Not tell anypony about this place? I want this cliff to remain private from all of Canterlot."

"Alright, Twily. I won't tell."

Cadence and Twilight accidentally fell asleep in that same spot for a few hours. While they were sleep, somepony in the trees was spying on them in a Black robe. It's only visible parts were it's Pink hooves. It wore two Platinum bracelets on each fore hoof.

It snuck back, and used magic to disappear.

(Two days later - At the Cliff)

Finally a whole week had passed since the friendship of Twilight Sparkle and Phoenix Burst had ended, and that Phoenix Burst had not been seen anywhere at all. Twilight was silently reading a different book at the cliff. She continued to think about Phoenix Burst, and how hurt he was when she told him they couldn't be friends anymore. Thanks to Cadence, she wasn't crying as much anymore, and she grew closer to her family again.

She hoped that one day, she'd see Phoenix Burst once more, and tell him how sorry she was.

"_See? Too strong for tears. Crying is for those who don't have any other options. I don't have options, but I still won't cry, no matter what._" She remembered him saying, hitting his chest with a prideful look. "_Y-Yeah. I'm Phoenix Burst; Young... Retired master criminal of Canterlot. Nopony is gonna stop me from doing the things I do best, even if what I do best is what I've retired from._"

"I can tell that I hurt you, Phoenix Burst. I haven't known you for long, but I could tell that you were in pain. If we are ever fated to see each other again... I hope you can forgive me." Twilight said in tears, closing her book, and resting her head on it. "I don't want you to be mad at me, Phoenix. I only did what was right for both of us. I felt terrible coming to you that day, and I couldn't look at you because I got so scared. I wanted to be strong, just like you, and come forward with what I said, but in the end, I did something horrible...!"

Twilight began to sniff a little on her book, getting tears on the cover, and slowly on the pages, too. She missed Phoenix Burst so much. She wanted to find him, and tell him how sorry she was. She couldn't feel happy unless she could see him. But Twilight also had to remember what Cadence told her.

If they were going to see each other again someday, Phoenix Burst might remember her, and might want to do everything in his power to make them friends again.

Which is why she needed to stop crying. Crying wasn't going to get him back. Crying were for those without any other options.

"I have to be strong. I need to stop crying so much." Twilight ceased her sniffs, and raised her head. "If Phoenix Burst ever saw me like this... I don't know what he'd do, but he would do something to stop me from crying. I want to be as strong as he is, and Shining Armor, too."

Twilight Sparkle hastily wiped away her own tears, and got up from sitting for so long. She was not going to cry. She was in pain, but there was going to be no more crying. Twilight was going to find Phoenix Burst, and make things right.

Because of a road block on the usual path to Canterlot, Twilight had taken, and now was exiting through a different path, still in the forest. It was a darker path then the usual, but it would get her to Canterlot all the same.

Twilight picked up her book with her mouth, and walked into the forest. She was determined to make things right, and continue helping Phoenix Burst be trusted by all of Canterlot. She wasn't going to let her family stop her. She wasn't going to let the Princess stop her, if she ever tried to. And she definitely was not going to let anypony in Canterlot stop her.

Upon entering the forest, Twilight spotted somepony in a Black Robe, wearing two Platinum bracelets on each fore hoof, spying on her.

"Phoenix Burst, is that you!?" She yelled, hoping he heard.

The cloaked pony took off towards Canterlot, without responding to Twilight Sparkle.

"W-Wait! Phoenix Burst! Please, don't be angry at me! I'm sorry!" Twilight went after him.

The forest was small, but on the path Twilight Sparkle and the cloaked pony was taking; it was darker because of the thickness of the trees. It was like the Everfree Forest Twilight read about in a book, but smaller and less creepy. Twilight continued to call out to the pony, only to not get a response. The cloaked pony climbed up a tree while Twilight was heading in the other direction opposed to where he was going, and cut some branch's.

"Phoenix Burst, where are you?! Stop running from me!" Twilight cried, finally coming out of the forest.

Twilight could continue forward towards Canterlot, or go back into the forest to see if whoever she saw was actually Phoenix Burst. Go back to where her family was, and deal with getting in trouble again, or find out who was running from her.

"_I have to find Phoenix Burst, but if he's in town, then I might run into Shining Armor, Cadence, or my parents at some point. If not him, then maybe the Royal Guards. They're still patrolling at this time of day-_" Before Twilight could finish thinking, a few trees fell in the forest, not too far from where Twilight had came out of. "What was that just now!?"

"Ow...!" Twilight heard a voice similar to Phoenix Burst's, but more feminine, yell from inside.

"Oh no!" Twilight ran back to the forest to find him.

Everypony in Canterlot heard the fallen trees in the woods, even Twilight Sparkle's family, and Cadence. Shining Armor was the first to react, running towards the location with everypony following.

"Shining Armor!" Cadence yelled.

"Twilight, you better be okay!" Shining said, pushing past a few ponies.

"Shining Armor, wait up!" Crescent stopped helping with the Summer Sun Celebration bounce house that was being decorated by everypony before being blown, to go after his son. "That's the location of the cliff where that house that burned down years ago. Who could be in there? It's forbidden."

Phoenix Burst, upon just sitting in an alley, heard what was happening, but wasn't going to do a thing to help. He wasn't really even listening to much of what everypony was saying. He was still depressed about losing Twilight Sparkle. He wanted to get her back and be friends again, but he was afraid of getting her in trouble like before. That, and he wasn't ready for several years in a prison cell.

"Did you all hear that!?" He heard a mare exclaim from out of the alley.

Phoenix Burst merely cocked his head towards the source of the voice. He didn't seem at all interested in it, though.

"Yes. A tree in that small forest where that cliff broke years ago came down on somepony!"

"I heard a little filly was in there. I saw her on my way to Joe's."

"A little filly, huh?" Phoenix turned away from the ruckus, and folded his talons. "Not any of my business."

Continuing to his mopping, Phoenix Burst rolled to his right side, and closed his eyes. After losing his friend, he began to care little about others, which lead him to never making an appearance to the public. He wanted nothing more then to be by himself. He didn't like it, but it was his own fault for letting it happen.

But if he wanted to be trusted and loved by others, this wasn't the way to do it.

"I can't just be mopping around like this. Twilight wouldn't think I was actually being truthful to her that I was desperate to show everypony that I've changed. At the same time, though... Have I changed? Have things for me changed since she left me?" Phoenix got off his flank, and placed his talons on the ladder handle on it's left side. "_Life before meeting Twilight for the first time wasn't that great. I was free from rules, learning, and commitment. On the other hoof, I was trapped. I only had so much freedom, but I was more trapped in that life. When I lost Twilight Sparkle... Did I get it back? Am I trapped again?_"

Phoenix Burst looked back towards the ponies that were heading to where that filly was. In his head, he was deciding either to stay in the life of freedom and running away, or to risk being seen by everypony, just to help somepony he didn't have much care for.

"... Dam...!" He muttered through his teeth, climbing up the ladder. "This had better be worth my time!"

Phoenix Burst jumped from roof to roof, heading to the forest, too. Most of the ponies he saw while jumping past them weren't tagging along to help the poor filly. The only one who spotted Phoenix Burst was a colt named Hoity Toity, but he didn't say anything to his family. Phoenix didn't notice that he was spotted, but on the other hoof, it didn't even matter since he was going to be seen by at least half the town.

Most of the Royal Guards were coming to help out, while about ten of them went to report the situation to Princess Celestia.

"Princess, somepony in the forest near the cliff where that house burnt down was nearly crushed by a tree. Ponies say that she's okay, but she has a big hole on her hoof, thanks to a large tree branch impaling her." One of the guards reported.

"... I'll be right there." Celestia replied, facing the window on her right, instead of looking at the guard. "Just tell the other guards to stay with everypony until I get there."

"Yes, Princess." The guards headed out of the throne room, heading back to the location of the forest.

"_... I thought I warned everypony not to go in there, anymore... I hope whoever this filly is hadn't seen it, or... Him._" Celestia thought, getting up from her throne to look at the cliff. "It's been a little while, but the memory of that night is still fresh in my mind. In time... He will know, too."

Back with everypony at the forest entrance; two medical ponies came with some bandage's from a medical kit they brought, while two others came out of the forest with the filly, covering her in a blanket. Crescent, Twilight Velvet, Cadence, and Shining Armor rushed past the crowd to see who was under the blanket. They had a pretty good idea who it was.

The doctors laid down the filly, and uncovered the blanket, revealing Twilight Sparkle, sobbing while holding her bleeding hoof close to her.

"Oh my goodness!" Twilight Velvet cried.

"Twily!" Shining exclaimed.

"Twilight!" Cadence exclaimed, too.

"Are you her parents?" One of the doctors asked.

"Yes, we are!" Crescent answered. "Is our little girl going to be okay?"

"We hope so, sir. From the wound in her hoof, it doesn't look fatal, but too much blood loss might kill her if we don't treat it soon. We'll do our very best to recover her in tip top shape." The other doctor that revealed Twilight replied, signaling the medical team with the bandage's to come over.

Shining Armor trotted to his sister. He was in tears after looking for her all day.

"Twily, what were you doing out here? Mom and Dad told us not to come here, and you came anyway."

"... I had to... Find Phoenix Burst... I hurt him the day we stopped being friends... I wanted to tell him... How sorry I was... For hurting him."

"Twily... Just don't say anything. We'll get that hoof fixed soon." Cadence rubbed Twilight Sparkle's head, soothing her a bit.

"Twilight, I don't think Phoenix Burst is coming. He hasn't been seen for a whole week-"

"I know he'll show up, Shining! I don't know when, but he'll be here!" Twilight Sparkle angrily cut Shining Armor off.

Phoenix Burst had finally got there, seeing that everypony was blocking his view of who got hurt. He was getting nervous about sawing himself after not coming out to reveal himself to everypony for seven days.

No. He dealt with them for four years. Finally, he made a vow to change his ways for good, and now was the time to prove it to them, and himself. It was now or never.

"Here I go." Phoenix jumped down, landing behind everypony. "Hi there, everypony! Long time no see!"

They all looked back, petrified to see the thief.

"It's the thief! Phoenix Burst has come back!"

"Uh-huh. Hi. 'Scuse me! Coming through!" Phoenix pushed past everypony, reaching the front of the crowd. "I'm not here to make any trouble. I just came because I heard somepony here got-"

Phoenix Burst frozen upon realizing the pony in front of him, being held by Shining Armor, Cadence and her parents, was Twilight Sparkle. She was still sobbing, but once she heard his voice, she calmed down a lot, toughing up against her injury.

"P-Phoenix Burst...? Is that you...?" She asked, trying not to cry again, but also couldn't see or hear him clearly. "I knew you'd come."

"Twilight Sparkle!? How did this-" Phoenix Burst was blocked by three Royal Guards, holding spears in his path. "Look, I don't want any trouble! I just want to help my friend!"

"You're not going to be helping anypony, anytime soon, buster!" One of the guards said, smacking Phoenix with her spear.

"We've been trying to catch you for years, and for you to just come straight into our hooves is like icing on a cake, being hoof-given to us on our birthday. This is almost too good to be true." Another guard added, hitting Phoenix with his spear.

Everypony cheered for the guards that were beating Phoenix mercilessly, while he sat there in pain, reaching out for Twilight Sparkle. Her vision was coming back to her, and she could see what was going on.

"Phoenix...!? Stop it! Don't hurt him!" She yelled, but the pain from her hoof kept her down. "OW! It still hurts!"

Phoenix lifted his head from all the pain he was enduring. He tried crawling towards Twilight Sparkle, since he couldn't stand, thanks to the guards.

"Uh-uh! You're not going anywhere!" The third guard pulled Phoenix back into the circle by his tail.

"Why you...!"

"Stop what you are doing and let him go right this minute!" Princess Celestia yelled from above everypony.

"What!? But Princess-"

"No buts! If he is able to help this filly, then allow him to." Celestia said, eying Phoenix Burst. "We are keeping an eye on you, Phoenix Burst. Don't do anything that could get you in trouble. We won't hesitate to arrest you if you try anything."

Phoenix got up, knowing that talking smart wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Thanks, P.C. Didn't ask for your help, though." He said, walking forward to Twilight Sparkle.

Shining Armor wasn't taking it lightly. While everypony else obeyed the Princess' order, he stepped up, and blocked Phoenix Burst from going any further.

"Who do you think you are, coming all this way after being absent for an entire week!? Now you come barging here like you're some kind of savior or something! What makes you think you can help my sister, anyway!" He yelled at Phoenix.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight Velvet went to stop her son.

"Hey, kid. I don't want any trouble, alright? She's my friend, and it's my fault we got into this mess. The choice's I made lead us into big trouble, and it even cost us our friendship. I need to make it up to her." Phoenix told Shining, holding the side of his left leg. "Sorry for holding you like this, but those Royal Guards really put a big number of bumps on me."

"Grr...! I'm still not gonna let you-"

"Young colt, let him through!" Celestia barged in from behind Phoenix.

"Princess, I'm pretty sure I don't need you to back me up." Phoenix Burst remarked with a smirk.

"Don't push your luck, thief." Celestia replied in annoyance.

"Didn't think I had much to begin with."

"Quiet."

"Princess, why are you helping this thief?" Shining Armor asked.

"I'm not, but as you can see; your sister needs him. These two may know little about each other, but it seems they have made a big bond with each other. If Phoenix Burst can help your sister, then you should give him a chance, for the sake of their friendship, and for the sake of your sister's life." Celestia answered.

Shining Armor grunted at Phoenix Burst. He didn't trust him with Twilight Sparkle one bit. It was Phoenix's fault for everything that's happened. He couldn't be trusted by anypony. Simple as that.

Shining Armor glanced to his sobbing sister, seeing how much pain she was in judging from her expression.

"Phoenix Burst... I'm so sorry..." Twilight muttered in pain.

Shining Armor then looked at Phoenix Burst, and snatched his leg away.

"Fine. I still don't trust you, but I'll let you through. If she gets hurt anymore then she is now, I will never forgive you."

"I wouldn't ask you to trust me, or forgive if something were to happen, kid. If something happens to her, I will take full responsibility. She's my only friend, and I'm going to make her a-okay, no matter what." Phoenix wiped Shining's tears off his face, then trotted past him to see about Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight Sparkle, it's me; Phoenix Burst. I'm here to help you out."

"Phoenix...? I'm so glad to see you..."

"I'm glad to see you, too, Twilight. Now tell me, where did you hurt yourself?" Phoenix asked, kneeling before his friend.

"Ow... It's my hoof. A tree was coming down on me, and it almost crushed me. I moved out of the way in time, but I fell down a ledge, and had my hoof impale a large branch." Twilight lifted her hoof towards Phoenix Burst, showing him how bad it was. "Ow...! The nerve in my leg isn't completely gone, but when I move it around, it really hurts, Phoenix!"

"I can see that, Twilight." Phoenix carefully took her hoof with his left talon. "Good thing you have me to help you out."

"What are you (Sniff) going to do?" Twilight asked, trying not to cry again.

"Well... This." Phoenix snapped his right talon, causing green fire to appear.

"What are you doing?! You better not hurt my little girl!" Crescent yelled.

"I'm not going to hurt her, I swear. This fire has healing properties, so it won't hurt one bit." Phoenix assured everypony. "I've had to use this on myself on several occasions. You know, because of them (Whistle's) (Points at the Royal Guards)."

Twilight giggled slightly, since the pain in her hoof kept her from laughing too much. Because of it, she was about to cry again. Phoenix loosened his grip on her hoof, so it wouldn't feel as painful.

"Twilight Sparkle, I want you to be strong for me. The fire I'm producing won't hurt, but the regeneration of your skin and muscle will. Trust me, I've bumped into injuries like this a few times, and the pain isn't nice to you one bit." Phoenix explained, adjusting the way he sat to be more comfortable. "If you're going to cry, then I won't stop you. You can let out as much sobs and tears as you want, but I'm going to be right here to hold you until it's over."

"Okay..." Twilight used her hoof that wasn't in pain, with Phoenix Burst's help, to climb up towards his chest to lay on him. "I want to lay on you like this while you do it. Is that okay with you?"

"Um... Sure. Whatever flouts your boat."

Phoenix Burst held Twilight's hoof that wasn't in pain, and slowly leaned his fiery talon towards the hoof that was bleeding. He was hesitating to touch her, because he didn't want to hear her scream in pain. Her crying was painful enough as it was.

"Don't hesitate, Phoenix Burst. You can do it. I trust you to do your part, so please hurry. It's still really painful, but I'm going to be strong for you, and my family." Twilight whispered to only Phoenix.

Phoenix replied with a nod, took a short breath, and laid his talon on the wound. Twilight began to scream from the pain of her flesh being regenerated. It hurt so much, it felt like sticking a hoof into lava, and not taking it out for a long time. Her body trembled, but the comfort of her Crimson friend gave her the strength to push on.

On the other hoof, Phoenix was also trembling. The magic of his flame wasn't doing it, but making his friend scream in pain. He shed a single tear, then laid his head on Twilight's.

"It's almost done, Twilight. Just a few more seconds." He said, intentionally to Twilight, but also to himself to reassure that it was going to be over soon.

"Twily..." Shining Armor whispered, tearing up again.

the sight of his sister sobbing like this also affected Shining Armor. He wasn't going to cry, but he already had tears dripping from his chin. Cadence wiped Shining Armor's tears, and gave him a smile that told him that things were going to be okay. Twilight Velvet was sobbing with her hooves covering her muzzle, while Crescent had his head turned. In fact, most of the ponies there looked away.

Princess Celestia, however, wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on. She stared blankly at Phoenix Burst with a look of her being proud, and angry at him. But in reality, she had nothing to be angry at him about.

"There we go." Phoenix announced, letting go of Twilight Sparkle's previously injured hoof.

Twilight's sobbing had ceased just seconds before Phoenix announced that, and had just been breathing quietly in his embrace. Twilight raised her hoof up for everypony to see, and beamed at it.

"You... Actually did it... It doesn't hurt anymore." Twilight announced, waving it around.

"Yep. Can you stand?" Phoenix asked.

Twilight Sparkle nodded, rolled off of Phoenix Burst, and tapped the ground.

"It's good as new!" Twilight ran to Phoenix, and hugged him. "Thank you, Phoenix Burst!"

Phoenix Burst saw it coming, but did nothing to stop it. He didn't hug her back, but instead rubbed his cheek on Twilight's.

"You're welcome, Twilight..." Phoenix replied, scratching his head.

"Phoenix Burst, where have you been all this time? I missed you so much since the day we split up. Ever since that day, I couldn't stop crying, because I thought I hurt your feelings. I came here because I wanted to find you, and tell you how sorry I was. For those seven days, I wasn't being strong, I couldn't contain my tears, and I was distant from everypony. I missed you so much, and I wanted to see you again, even if it was going to get us in trouble." Twilight explained, tearing up again. "When I hurt myself, and when you were healing my wound, I wanted to be strong, like you and Shining Armor. I didn't want to cry, no matter how painful my hoof was getting. I wanted to show you that I could be tough, and hold my tears. But... I couldn't."

"Twilight Sparkle..." Phoenix Burst began to chuckle a bit.

"Why are you laughing?" Twilight asked, letting go of Phoenix.

"Twilight, for the longest time in my life, all I've been doing since that day was sit around, being depressed and sad. I also missed you, but I did nothing but mop, instead of just finding you, and fixing things. In fact, when I heard that you were in trouble a little while ago today, I actually didn't want to come here. I didn't think you'd be in trouble, and I didn't think it'd be worth it. but then I realized that for so long, if I wanted to change my ways, I had to make a move. Sitting around and mopping wasn't going to change anything. I had to do something. So I came here to start things off." Phoenix started scratching the back of his head again in embarrassment. "I wasn't strong. I wasn't doing what I should have been doing, which was stallion up, and face the world around me, even if it meant getting myself in trouble just for sawing face. In fact, I've been crying, too. I couldn't cope with the fact that I couldn't see you anymore."

"You were... Crying?"

"Yeah. I did. I guess we can't be strong all the time. Without you, I didn't know where to start showing everypony that I wanted to change. But at the same time, for these seven days without you, I've been able to think of some things." Phoenix pulled out two bags full of bits by using his magic. "Before I decided to come here, I figured that if I wanted to start showing all of you that I want to be a good pony, I brought this."

Phoenix Burst walked over to two Royal Guards, handing them the bags.

"These belong to you two, right? I want you to have these back." Phoenix said.

"You're joking, right? You are just giving these back?" One of the guards asked.

"No, I'm not joking. and yes, I'm giving these back. All ten bits are in each of these bags. I haven't spent a single bit from these." Phoenix answered, waving the bags in their faces. "You should be happy that I'm being this generous. I'd say something smart and sarcastic, but I don't want to make anypony angry, ya know."

"Well... Thank you." Both of the guards took their bits back, and checked them thoroughly. "Wow. All ten are in here."

"Yep. Now where's the captain? I want to give him his bits, too."

"Actually, we haven't seen him all day. I was going to call for the guards to find him, before all this happened." Princess Celestia replied.

"Oh... Well, I'll just let you hold onto his bits for me. I really want him to have it back." Phoenix Burst handed the captain's bag of bits to Celestia.

"No. I want you to give it to him yourself, Phoenix Burst." Celestia pushed it back towards Phoenix. "But I want to ask you this: do you really want to turn over a new leaf? Are you one hundred percent positive that you are willing to change your ways, and give back everything you have stolen over the years?"

"Yes, I'm sure. With Twilight's help, I think I can do it." Phoenix nodded with his said answer, turning to Twilight's family. "That is, if Twilight's family is willing to let us."

"Us?" Crescent asked.

"Yes. I want to be Twilight Sparkle's friend again, but this time, I want to know if you all are okay with it. I don't want you to be angry with her for something that's my fault. Everything that's happened is my fault, and I want you to know that I'm very sorry for dragging her into this. The day Twilight and I were running away from the Royal Guards, that was when I was trying to pay for the apples I stole that day. The whole thing was just a misunderstanding, but that misunderstanding cost us our friendship. Please don't be angry with her. She did nothing wrong." Phoenix explained, kicking a pebble next to his left back hoof.

"Please, mom. Dad. Shining Armor. He didn't mean to cause any trouble. It just happened. Give him a chance." Twilight added, trotting next to Phoenix Burst.

"Twily..." Shining Armor raised a hoof like he was clinching a fist in frustration.

"I just don't know, you two. You've been a thief for four years, Phoenix Burst. We can't just trust you right here, just because you fixed our daughter's wound." Crescent replied.

"I don't want you to just trust me right here and now. I want to rightfully earn it, from everypony. Ever since the first time I started stealing, I've always felt regret in my chest, and it built up every time I did it. I wanted to stop, but I was afraid of all of you. I was all by myself, running away, and causing trouble. I didn't have anything else but my wits, brain, and magic to avoid you, and to live. When I met Twilight Sparkle in my secret spot over at the cliff, I didn't think she knew who I was, so I tried to take a different approach. I tried being somepony I'm not, and it got me a friend, but I still felt bad, because I wasn't being honest to myself, or her. I kept making mistakes, and it made things harder for me to think, and feel happy. When I lost Twilight Sparkle, my heart snapped, and I didn't want to come out of my home, ever. I guess I needed an excuse to let out all of my frustration, and tears. I didn't care about the world around me anymore, because I actually lost the one pony that made me happy for the first time in my entire life." Phoenix put a talon on his eyes to cover his tears. "I only came back, because I knew that if I was to let you all know that I want to earn your trust, and friendship, I had to stop hiding, and show myself. I knew the risks. I knew (Points at the Royal Guards) they were going to attack me. I knew everypony was going to shout "It's that thief". I knew I was going to be in big trouble, but I came out anyway."

Everypony felt so bad for Phoenix Burst, especially the Royal Guards. Twilight Sparkle hugged Phoenix, seeing as he was about to cry. He hugged her back, while keeping himself in check. She was a bit angry, though, but she could only understand why he did those things, and at least he came out the truth.

Shining Armor stepped forward, and tapped Phoenix's head.

"Hmm?"

"I don't trust you, but I'll be willing to give you a chance, Phoenix Burst. Going through stuff like that is pretty tough, and nopony should have to go through that. If you are telling us the truth, then I'll give a chance to make things right." He said.

"Thanks, Shining. that means a lot to me." Phoenix wiped his tears away, and replied.

"Well, if he trusts you, then it wouldn't be right of me not to give you a chance." Cadence decided, taking a few steps forward.

"Me too." Twilight Velvet added.

"Thanks. That makes me feel a little better." Phoenix replied with a small smirk.

"Does that mean we can be friends again?" Twilight Sparkle asked her parents, hoping for a yes.

"Yes, you may." Princess Celestia allowed, instead of Crescent.

"Princess..."

"Phoenix Burst should be given a chance by all of us. He's made bad choice's in the past, yes, and what he has done was wrong, but we can't hold a grudge on him forever, especially if he is willing to come clean to us and admit his mistakes. Also, I feel that his little friend here should keep an eye on him, in case he does anything sneaky."

"(Gasp) Thank you, Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed in awe.

"Awesome!" Phoenix added, just as happy.

"But-" Crescent was about to interrupt everypony with a protest, until Twilight Velvet stopped him by shoving a hoof in front of him.

Knowing that he was looking at her, Twilight Velvet shook her head, while smiling at their daughter.

"... Fine." Crescent groaned.

Up in the trees in the dark forest, deep within the darkness of a tree, the cloaked pony watched everypony, shaking his head in disapproval. Whatever he/she tried to do, it must have failed. It just sat there, watching Twilight Sparkle and Phoenix Burst talking with each other. Everypony else, except Twilight Sparkle's family, had left.

Even Cadence left to attend to the decorating of the Hearth's Warming Tree with everypony else. She thought her part of helping Twilight with her sadness was done, for now.

Shining Armor and Crescent, more or less, lightly scolded Phoenix Burst, while Twilight Sparkle and Velvet were trying to keep them from getting into a big tussle.

The guys were building a small bond with the former thief, especially Shining Armor. Keyword is small. Shining was growing a bit lighter towards Phoenix Burst. Crescent, however, still didn't like him that much. He was okay with letting Phoenix hanging out with his daughter, but not close enough to where he could be trusted. Maybe overtime Crescent would accept Phoenix Burst, just not now.

Twilight Velvet just remained quiet, staring at Phoenix Burst. It was the first time ever that she met him in person, yet something felt familiar about him.

"Mommy, why are you staring at Phoenix?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Oh, just thinking. I didn't think I was even looking at him." Velvet answered before checking her daughter's hoof. "It really is healed from the looks of it... Does it still hurt?"

"No. Phoenix Burst healed it completely." Twilight Sparkle swung her hoof side to side to show that it was all better.

"Hey you two. What are you doing? C'mon over." Phoenix called the mare over to join the guys, waving to them.

"Coming!" Twilight replied, coming over to play.

The cloaked pony from inside the tree had enough watching. It pulled back the leaves it was peeking out of, and ran away.

"So you are alive... I thought you..." It stopped what it was saying, remembering something. "No... It can't be."

The mysterious figure faded into the darkness, leaving to trace of it ever being there. The way it said those last words seemed to be out of grief and pain. Whoever it was, knew Phoenix Burst.

* * *

"And that's the end of this part/chapter... Yeah, this was a bit of a jumble mess, if you ask me. I am so sorry this took so long. I was procrastinating a lot because of the MLP Gameloft app. My entire save data/progress/whatever you want to call it, was erased, so I had to start all over again. Yay... So anyway, because of my procrastinating, I've only been getting this chapter done little by little, causing me to lose focus on what to put in next during the events that occurred. Now like I said before the chapter started, i wanted to give another speech about the whole Adam Smith thing. I kinda lost thought on what I was going to say, but I want to do one thing first, and that's making a mean joke about King Sombra. I've been watching Modern War Negro a little, and I came up with a joke from one of his trolling videos. So here it is...!" Battle announced, using his body to block the door because of the readers. "What is up with you, hidin' in them clouds like you a stalking creeper or somethin'. N****, I wouldn't be scared of you if you were my worst nightmare, and that's saying a lot since I usually have nightmares. Man... I'd poke some holes in a blanket, and put it over you body to make you look like a ghost, creeping up on ponies like a little b****. N****, stop acting like you scary or somethin' like some kind of kindergarten monster, you big pussy! You tryin' to scare older ponies with smoke screen? Man... My gym shorts, tied to a scarecrow's face, while looking through somepony's window with a creepy smile and a note saying "Hello" is scarier then you! N****, stop being a blimp's passing gas, and actually do some terrorizin', ya goofy son of a b****!"

"Stop making fun of Sombra, you jerk!"

"Yeah! Some of us really think he's cool!"

"Uh-huh. And he's the one out of all of the villains in the show to barely make an appearance. I'm surprised we even remember him, since he got no real character development at all. He's like Flash Sentry, only Sombra had less screen time then Flash did, and Flash first appeared in a movie." Battle said after getting up, and used a broom to seal the door handles.

"Shut up, you jerk!"

"Stop being so cruel to King Sombra and Flash Sentry!"

"I'm not being- Arrr...! Okay, I'm sorry for making fun of him. He's okay, but like I said; he had no development. And seriously, all he did was travel using clouds, and attacked with crystals. That's not very threatening, but he actually contributed to the whole event of The Crystal Empire part 1 and 2. Sombra was the appointed villain in those episodes, whilst Flash was only in Equestria Girls as the love interest, but even then it was pointless, seeing as it wasn't developed at all. Don't get me wrong, I really liked that movie, and Rainbow Rocks, but Flash is one of my biggest problems, aside from Sunset Shimmer's genericness in the first movie (I mean, seriously. She was such a generic villain, it wasn't even funny.), and the Dazzling's actual point behind their plan in Rainbow Rocks. It just seemed like Flash was put in there last second. The reason I'm even saying this is because of somepony's review I saw. It made me think back to some things in both movies that needed to be thought about. Still, they are better movies then the previous gen movies. Urrrrgh..! Makes me cringe just thinking about them."

"Well, you have a point, maybe a few, but that doesn't give you the right to criticize Sombra! Like every other character in the Friendship is Magic universe, he has a place in the mix, even if undeveloped. He has a place in our hearts, just like the rest of the gang, and that's what makes him memorable." A reader confessed, ceasing his bashing of the door into the studio.

"Right. Even if he only had about less then five minutes of screen time, with all the fans of My Little Pony continuing to make fan art, music, or whatever with him in them, Sombra will continue to be a part of our hearts." Another reader continued as she, along with the rest of the readers, stopped bashing the door.

"Yeah. So he's an okay former ruler, no matter what you say. And Flash Sentry deserves respect, too. He's could be a good guy, if he was also developed more. Maybe in Season 5 the writers will give him and Sunset Shimmer an appearance, some lines of dialogue, some development. they might even bring back The Great and Powerful Trixie, too!" Yet another reader added to the mix.

(All of the readers cheered King Sombra, Trixie, Sunset Shimmer, and Flash Sentry's names multiple times, while Battle stared at the door, dumbfounded.)

"Um... Okay. Whatever flouts your boats, guys. Anyway, this is getting carried away, so I'm not going to give the speech. Just look up Adam Smith on the search bar up there on your top right of the screen (Points at the search bar). To make things short, some people on youtube really hurt his feelings, and he couldn't take it, causing him to walk onto some train tracks, and was ran over by a train. When I heard about it, I was pretty pissed off, but as long as you just ignore what people say about your work, or what you like, or just anything in general, things will be okay. People like the ones Adam had to deal with just like to type in things, because, well, it's the internet. some of the things people say can really help you, and others can really hurt you. It is up to you to decide wither to fuel those hurtful people, or ignore them. The decision is on you, so if you decide to reply to those who hurt you, then you're only allowing them to hurt you even more because you are fueling them. Some of us just have to let it go. Just block those people or somethin', am I right?" Battle told all the readers, unblocking the door, and opening it to tell it to them.

"He's right..."

"Yeah. Poor Adam."

"Oh. And one more thing; that speech y'all gave was pretty g**. Just sayin'." Battle had to blurt out, getting the readers angry again. "Uh...! Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this chapter, and I'll get started on the next soon. I also have this story on FIMfiction, but it's not published yet. I edit these chapter's there while reading through them, to find any errors, misspellings, or anything else. Happy New Year to all of you, and now, _Thanks and BYE!_"

I gave the disclaimer during the beginning of the chapter, but I just want to do it again for the new years.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro. I own this story, and some of it's characters. The Rouge Diamond belongs to Pia-Sama. Black Lagoon belongs to Funimation. and other things I also don't own. If you wish to send me OC requests, I'll accept only up to three, and not for this story, but the next one after this.


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